An Escape From Reality
by blackdye
Summary: What happens when my dog, brother, friend, and I get sucked into the Naruto world? And what we find out about ourselves? Follows the original storyline, but there are some added twists of my own. Rated T for strong language.
1. I'm in the WHAT?

**Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto or any of the brand names I mention in this story. I also don't own any of the music lyrics that appear.**

Prologue

"I got it!" I brought my hands upward and the volleyball went flying into the air.

It came down, bounced on the cement, and my brother, Noah, ran and hit it with his hand. The white volleyball flew into the sky and hurled in my direction, so I dove and sent it back to him. The kid is about 4'9, which is short for an eleven year old. He has long, golden-blond, hair that goes a little past his shoulder blades, and that's longer than my hair! He usually wears baggy cargo shorts and skateboard company T-shirts.

"I can't believe Mom won't let me have a sleep-over," I growled, hitting the ball.

_Flashback_

The bell rang and we wearily started to make our way to the locker rooms.

"Where do you think you're going?" our P.E. teacher demanded. "You still need to stretch and do five push-ups."

Everyone groaned as we got on the ground. It was just after a twenty minute run, which meant we had to run about two and a half miles to get an A. Our teacher makes us do stretches and little exercises like sit-ups no matter what we just did for the period.

Finally, we were able to go into the locker rooms and change. By the time I was outside with my friends, there was only two minutes left before the day ended. The bell rang at last and we dashed to our lockers.

I put away my binder and took out my sweaty gym clothes that smelled like crap. I didn't have any homework for the weekend, which was good.

"Hey, Lilian," I said to my friend next to me. "You want to have a sleep-over this weekend?"

"Sure," she replied, before pausing. "Wait…we have Chinese school tomorrow, remember?"

"Damn, I forgot. And I have a volleyball game tomorrow too."

"Man…how about tomorrow night then? When is your game?"

"Like at five in the afternoon."

"Okay, then you can just come over to my house after?"

"Sure!"

I got off the bus, walked over to the neighborhood's security gate, punched in the code, and entered as the gate swung open. After I got inside my house, I packed some extra stuff in my school backpack for the following night, then told Mom that I was having a sleep-over at Lilian's place the next day.

"I'm sorry, Madeline," she replied. "But we can't do it this weekend, your brother has State Cup and you know it."

"Can't I just stay at her house?" I asked. "For the weekend or something? If I go, not only will I miss the chance of having a sleep-over, but I'll also miss my volleyball game and more importantly the Super Bowl!"

"I don't want to have Lilian's mom think that she has to babysit you for a stupid football game. Besides, you can afford to miss one volleyball game."

"Well I really don't want to go to State Cup for a stupid soccer game!" I growled, raising my voice.

"Don't talk to me like that!" she shot back. "There are things in my life that I've missed for something else. Not everyone's life is perfect!"

"Oh yeah?! Like what? Hm?"

There was a moment of silence as we glared at each other.

"You are going to State Cup to cheer on your brother, and that is final," my mom said.

"Oh, come on, Mom!" I cried, switching to over-dramatic mode. "I am sick and tired of being dragged around every single weekend to a soccer game! I hate sitting in the car, being driven 50 miles just to go to a soccer practice, and then sit in a chair outside on poorly prepared grass that sticks to my shoes for two hours in 45 degree weather! And I only get to stay home if I have homework, which rarely happens! The only time I get by myself, _alone_, and be relaxed, is when I'm watching Naruto on Saturday nights!"

"This isn't about a cartoon!"

"It's not a cartoon, it's anime! And I didn't say it was about Naruto!"

"That's it! You're grounded!"

"Fine! See if I give a damn!"

I stomped out of the room, entered the garage, and grabbed the volleyball. Noah looked up from skateboarding and decided to play with me.

_End of Flashback_

"Hey, Noah," I caught the ball. "I'm going to take Angel to the park and practice for tomorrow's game. Wanna come?"

My younger brother nodded. I opened up the door to the garage and pushed the 1 ½ meter plank of wood out of the way. The family's little bishon frise darted through the doorway and sat down on the garage floor, her tail twitching every which way while I pulled out the harness and leash and put them on her. I then grabbed my school backpack, put my volleyball under my arm, and walked off the driveway with Angel and Noah at my heels.

We walked up the street, turned at a light, and headed towards the park. Noah looked at me as we entered the park and grinned. I smiled back. Noah was like my best buddy. He knows that I hate soccer, but he doesn't care. We've been best pals for years, ever since we were born.

Noah headed over to the fields to play around with the soccer ball a bit while I headed over to the volleyball court, sat down on a park bench, and opened up my backpack. My cellphone was in its usual place and I had put in my Dell laptop, so Lilian and I could stay up and watch movies and Naruto episodes all night long; as well as my toothbrush, toothpaste, brush, deodorant, tweezers, eyeliner, white iPod Nano and its charger, and Green Day pajamas. Next to those were four packages of regular, tropical, and wild berry Skittles and my favorite book of all time, _Twilight_, written by Stephenie Meyer.

Bored, I pulled out the black DELL laptop, turned it on, and logged onto Youtube. I typed in Naruto Episode 58. I looked up at the sky, waiting for the page to load. Mean, gray clouds darkened the sky and a cold breeze whisked by.

"Noah, I think it might rain," I called out. "We should probably head back home."

My phone suddenly rang. I picked it up and sighed.

"What Lilian?" I groaned.

"Have you talked to your mom about it yet?"

"Well…."

"Come on, Maddie. Don't tell me you haven't asked her because you're to busy watching Naruto on Youtube."

"Um…."

Another call came.

"Hang on, Lilian. Another call is coming."

I answered the other call and put her on hold.

"Hello?"

"MADELINE!!"

"Hi, Caity."

"NARUTO IS COMING ON TONIGHT!!"

"It's Friday. Why would it be coming on tonight?"

"I dunno, but it's Episode 58."

"That's a rerun."

"So? I bet you'll watch it anyway. In fact, you're so excited that I bet you're going to watch it on Youtube before it comes on."

"What? No, I wouldn't do that on the same day."

"Yeah, okay. I wonder why they're showing reruns though. They've already shown the first one hundred and sixty or something like that."

"Uh huh. Yeah. Can I go now? Lilian's on the other line."

"REALLY?! LET ME TALK TO HER!!"

I groaned and pressed the button to merge the calls. As I was doing this, Angel put her paws on my leg and looked at the computer screen, as if interested. The screen was flashing white repeatedly, then it changed to a swirling green. There was a bright flash of bright white light before my vision went black.

Chapter 1

I'm in the WHAT?!

I groaned and slowly opened my eyes. My head was throbbing and my eyelids felt heavy. I tried to push myself up with my hands, but my arms felt so weak that I was forced back down like a heavy weight.

"Hey, you! Over there!" a voice shouted.

My eyes finally closed and unconsciousness won the battle.

Soft sunlight streamed through my eyelids and the faint chirping of birds could be heard. _Great, _I thought. _It's already time to get ready for school. _I groaned and rolled on my side.

"Look! She's waking up!" an oddly familiar voice declared.

"Dad," I growled. "I don't want to go to school today."

"HEY! WAKE UP!" a second voice screamed.

I clamped the pillow over my head. I was so close to telling Dad to shut up the hell up, so I could sleep some more.

"Stop it, sensei!" the first voice scolded. "Let her sleep! She needs her energy!"

"But she needs to embrace the youthful world!"

That was the last straw. I rose from the bed to tell Dad off, when I realized it wasn't my father I was looking at. A girl with her brown hair in two buns was peering at me from the side of my bed. A man with a black salad-bowl hair cut, _very _fuzzy eyebrows, and the gayest green spandex I have ever seen was standing at the end of my bed. Another boy about the age of thirteen was leaning up against the doorframe. He had black-brown hair that almost went down to his waist and had blank, white eyes that gave a cold stare. A silver headband with a round swirly symbol was attached to his head.

_Oh my God! _I thought. _It's Gai sensei, Ten-Ten, and Neji_ _Hyuga! This isn't possible! I must be dreaming..._

I pinched my forearm to wake myself up, but I still remained in the hospital bed.

_I must be in the Naruto world for real then, _I thought happily. _But, wait. If I'm here for real, then where the hell is Lee? This IS Team Gai, right?_

"You gave us quite a scare," Gai smiled.

_Ahhhhh!! _I shielded my eyes as I was temporally blinded by his grin. _The light!! It burns!!_

"Stop smiling, Gai sensei!" Ten-Ten said. "Can't you see your blinding her?!"

"Um, where am I?" I asked, even though I was pretty sure I already knew.

"You're in Konoha, the village hidden in the leaves, but you're in a hospital right now. I'm Gai. Pleased to meet you!"

"Madeline, or Maddie," I yawned. "Uh, how did I exactly get in this hospital?"

"Madeline? Never heard of that name before, it must be rare. To answer your question though, Neji found you outside the main gate of the village, near some trees and bushes, while he was scouting the area.

"Anyway, I should introduce to everyone. This is Ten-Ten and over there is Neji," Gai pointed to each member of the team. "We have another member. His name is Lee, but he's injured right now. His bed is over there. You'll meet him when he wakes up."

I looked at the bed a couple yards away from me. Lee had a black salad-bowl haircut and bushy eyebrows, but not as bushy as Gai's.

"Where are you from, Maddie?" Ten-Ten asked.

_Damn it__, _I thought. _I know I can keep a strait face while lying, but it's just every time I do lie, I get in trouble! But I can't tell them the truth. They wouldn't believe me. Like anyone would, they'd probably think I'm retarded or something._

My eyes flicked from Ten-Ten, to Gai, to Neji, then back at Ten-Ten again, hoping they got the message: why in the name of God would I want to tell you?

"The Hokage would rather if you did," Gai said. "For the village's safety."

Safety. My ass. Since when has the Leaf Village ever been safe?

"Ugh…Fine…See, I've never really had a home. As long as I can remember, I've been traveling my whole life. During that time, my father taught me shinobi techniques and how to control my chakra while my mother taught me medical jutsus. I don't travel with my parents anymore though, they abandoned me years ago."

"How did you get near the gates?" Ten-Ten pressed on.

"Well..." I said, trying to think of what to say next and sit up at the same time. "I had run out of food and water, so I collapsed from hunger, dehydration, and exhaustion. I was going to pick up supplies here, but unfortunately, it was too late."

Everyone nodded, except Neji, who kept staring at me with those blank eyes. It felt like he was listening to my thoughts, but I ignored it.

"That makes sense," Gai said. "But now that you mention you're a traveler, Neji did bring back some items when he found you, right, Neji?"

The boy nodded silently.

"Oh…" I replied. "Yeah."

Neji pointed to the desk across the room, before I could ask where my stuff was located. I kicked the sheets off, walked over, and found that my school bag was sitting in the chair.

"You guys didn't look in my backpack, right?" I asked as I zipped it open.

"Nope," Ten-Ten replied.

I nodded as thanks, then remembered Angel and Noah and asked where they were.

"Don't worry, she's in a cage by the waiting room desk," Gai smiled. "But I don't know any Noah. No one was with you when you were found. Neji, take Madeline to go get her dog."

_Damn it, _I thought. _I just revealed that I was lying a bit._

"Yes, sensei," he said plainly.

He told me to meet him in five minutes outside the room. I grabbed my white iPod nano as Gai handed me my clothes and directed me to the washroom. I closed, locked the door, and took off the hospital dressing. Thankfully, I still had my white sports bra and sports box underwear on. I pulled on the clothes that Gai gave me and as I was folding up the dressing, I got a look at myself in a tall mirror that was in the room.

"Oh, wow," I muttered.

My hair was still auburn with golden strands at the tips, but it was down to my shoulder blades instead of just resting on my shoulders. I saw that I still had my contacts in. I had received my red Volcom T-shirt that stuck to my sides, slightly baggy navy blue pants, black and white DC shoes, and a Hidden Leaf Village headband. My Indian, hand-carved turtle necklace made out of silver that Noah had given me was still on my neck. It had strange designs on the shell and a green turquoise stone in the middle. It made me kind of sad when I saw it. I wondered where he was right now. My eyes were like black now, but they still had a little sparkle of green. (Kinda like Temari's eyes during the third part of the Chuunin exam.) The only good part was that this world brought out my slim figure. I gasped.

"Ewww!" I muttered to myself. "I look like a girly girl! I almost look like Tess, that girly, annoying bitch from school!"

I tied my now long hair into a high ponytail and left the tiny washroom. I went back into the hospital room and walked to the doorway of the room, where Neji was waiting for me.

He didn't say anything, just motioned me to follow him, which I did 'cause I had no other choice. As I followed him, I turned on my iPod and started listening to the band Sum 41 VERY LOUDLY. We walked around the hospital for ten minutes before Neji suddenly stopped. Since I was walking behind him and not paying attention, I crashed into his back and fell to the ground. I paused my song and gave him a glare. Before I even got a chance to yell at him, he beat me to it.

"So, are you going to tell me the truth?" Neji turned around and stared at me with those blank, unblinking, eyes. "Don't even think about lying to me."

I mimicked his glare until his eyes narrowed.

"Fine," I finally groaned. "You really want to know the truth, huh?"

Neji nodded.

"…Ok, I'm not so sure how it happened. I was walking my dog with my brother around the park before I went over to my friend's house for a sleep-over, because it was Friday, which meant the weekend had arrived…Actually, my mom got all pissed off at me and didn't let me have it, but I was still going to go anyway. I sat down on the bench and pulled out my laptop because I was bored. Then my phone rang and I talked to my two friends, and as I was doing so, there was this bright flash of light before I woke up here."

I pulled out my earphones and sat down on a small white bench that was to the right of me. Neji sat down next to me.

"I see," he said. "So you're in a foreign place and have no clue if you're able to go back to your own dimension?"

"Exactly. Although Konoha is only a little foreign to me...okay I admit it. I know about Konoha, but I don't know it like the back of my hand. You see, this world in my world is a popular anime TV show and manga. I know some locations like the Academy, the Third Training Ground, and so on, but that's all."

"Hmmm, interesting. Come on, follow me."

We left the bench and walked down a white hallway. We then approached a desk, but nobody was there. I looked at a sign that was in Japanese kanji and, suddenly, transformed into English writing.

"On lunch break," I muttered.

_How the hell did that just happen? _I thought. _Oh well. I'll figure that later._

"Here she is," Neji was behind the desk, bending over.

He held out a silver cage, which I snatched from his hands and tore the small door open. Angel dashed out of the metal prison and jumped into my arms. I smiled at her.

I then squeezed her into a tight hug, picked her up, and followed Neji back to the room, but not before noticing that her collar looked like a headband. Instead of saying 'Angel' in print, it said 'Angel' in Japanese kanji.

"Guys, this is my dog Angel," I said plainly. "She's a pure bishon frise."

"Awww, she's sooo cute!" Ten-Ten squealed.

She rushed over and started stroking Angel's head. Angel sniffed her hand and licked it, making Ten-Ten giggle.

**So how was it? Was it good? I started to write this in February of 2007 when I was in sixth grade, so the beginning chapters might be short and kinda bad...Anyway, feel free to review but no flames please!**


	2. Gaara, Naruto, Shikamaru, and Bushy Brow

**Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto or any of the brand names I mention in this story. I also don't own any of the music lyrics that appear.**

Chapter 2

Gaara, Naruto,

Shikamaru, and Bushy Brow!

Gai said he was going to run some errands, so we could just hang out in my recovery room. As he left, I just decided to listen to my iPod and read _Twilight_. While I was doing this, Neji leaned up against the wall and Ten-Ten played with Angel. Nevertheless, I got bored after the first five minutes and sat on my bed while Ten-Ten played with Angel and Neji watched.

"Neji, why don't you come over and pet Angel?" Ten-Ten asked.

Neji shrugged as a response. Angel jumped out of Ten-Ten's arms and trotted over to him. He picked her up and let her sniff and lick his nose, which made him smile and stroke Angel's head. As Ten-Ten was giggling, my phone rang. The song _Fat Lip_ by Sum 41 echoed through the whole room. LOUDLY. Everyone jumped but me, as I lazily walked over to the table and picked it up. It was Caity. Of course.

"Hello?" I sighed.

"MADELINE!!"

The voice was so loud that I had to hold the phone away from my ear to not go deaf.

"What?"

"WHERE WERE YOU?! WE WERE TALKING, AND THEN YOU WERE GOING TO MERGE OUR CALL WITH LILIAN'S WHEN THE LINE WENT DEAD?! WHAT HAPPENED?!"

"Who's that?" Neji asked.

"Caity," I answered.

"WHO ARE YOU TALKING TO?!"

"Uh…Neji?"

"WHAT?! Youmeanthenejifromnarutothatcanusebyakugunandhasveryweirdeyesandpracticallyhateshislifebecausehisfatherwaskilledbuthedoesn'tknowthatheactuallysacrificedhimselftosavetheleafvillageandbecausehisunclebrandedthatweirdlookingsymbolthingonhisforehead? THAT Neji?"

"Yes, Caity, that Neji."

"WHAT THE HELL….HOW THE HELL…."

She continued while I rolled my eyes at Neji and Ten-Ten. As Caity rambled on, Angel perked up her ears and froze. I turned down the volume of my phone and listened. What I heard were footsteps echoing through the hall.

"Listen," I held up a hand.

Everyone else all stopped what they were doing and did what I had said. To me, the footsteps seemed to grow louder every second. I peeked out of a small window on the far end of the room to see who or what it was heading our way. What I saw was a shadowed figure walked slowly across the hallway. He had short red-brown hair and shadowed unblinking eyes. A red Japanese kanji character was on one side of his forehead and a huge gourd containing sand was on his back. He looked about the age of thirteen.

I cocked an eyebrow and back away from the window.

"What is it?" Neji asked.

"Some sand ninja," I replied, not caring.

"Who?" Ten-Ten asked.

"You don't have to lie," Neji said when I shrugged. "Just tell us who it is."

I sighed, "It's just Gaara. But don't have a heart attack."

Neji's eyes grew wide. The veins appeared and his blank eyes became more detailed. This meant that he was using his Byakugun. He handed me Angel.

"Don't close the door," he hissed to us. "Move slowly under the bed, _now_. And don't make a single noise."

I rolled my eyes, turned up the volume on my phone, and put it to my ear.

"I mean how can you get so lucky?"

"Caity," I sighed.

"Yeah?"

"I'm gonna have to call you back."

"Why? Is this some kind of trick? Because you know I don't like…"

I closed my phone to shut her up, put it in my pocket, and slowly made my way under the bed with Ten-Ten. It was a tight squeeze, but we managed. Neji moved behind a white curtain that went all around my bed and got into a fighting stance. I heard the door slide open and saw Gaara's feet appear in the doorway from under the bed. I froze in my spot, though I don't know why I was afraid.

It was all coming back to me now. This was during Episode 58, where Gaara was going to kill Lee, when Naruto and Shikamaru stop him. Then Gai sensei comes in and stops the whole fight.

_But, can it change since Neji, Ten-Ten, and I'm in the room? _I thought nervously.

Gaara's feet slowly moved across the room and stopped near Lee's bed. My heart rate picked up slightly, though I don't know why. Maybe it's just because I knew how Gaara was before the Chuunin Exams ended.

I heard the sound of Gaara's cork popping off and the sand spilling out. I saw it crawl up the bed, and I started to fiddle with my necklace.

"What do you think you're doing?" Neji asked coldly, stepping out from behind the curtain.

I spotted a figure fly threw the air and punch Gaara in the face.

"Ow!" came a shout.

A boy with brown spiky hair that stuck straight up in a pony tail appeared, wiping his mouth.

"Hey, Naruto, go easy," the guy said. "I'm using my Shadow Possession Jutsu, so when ever you bash him, you bash me too, got it?"

"Oh, sorry Shikamaru," the short kid grinned.

I turned my attention to him. Naruto had short, spiky blond hair and shiny blue eyes. He had a stupid grin and wore the same headband as Neji.

"We should be asking you the same thing, Neji," Naruto remarked.

"Easy guys," Shikamaru held up his hands. "What do _you_ think you're doing, Gaara?"

They all turned to him. He stood there, his eyes unblinking.

"Well, are you going to us what you were going to do?" Neji asked, still in his fighting stance.

"I was going to kill him," Gaara finally said.

Shikamaru and Naruto's eyes grew wide.

"You already beat him once in the competition," Shikamaru said. "Wasn't that enough? Do you have a personal grudge against him or something?"

"I have nothing against him. It's not that complicated. I just want to kill him, that's all."

"You disgusting freak!" Naruto shouted.

"If you get in my way, I'll kill you," Gaara threatened.

"Oh yeah?" Naruto put his fist in front of him. "I'd like to see you try!"

"No, Naruto, you idiot!" Shikamaru cried. "Yeah, we've seen you fight before. But, Naruto and I were holding back in the competition. There are things you haven't even seen yet."

"I tell you once more. If you get in my way, I'll kill you," Gaara rasped. "And those girls hiding under the bed, including the dog."

More of Neji's Byakugun veins appeared and Angel let out a small whimper, loud enough for everyone to hear.

"It's over," Ten-Ten muttered.

Sand crept along the floor and wrapped around us. I was dragged out from under the bed and floated a foot in the air. Ten-Ten struggled with the iron-tough sand that was wrapped around her waist and arms. I tested to see how tough it was by trying to lift my forearms. It was useless. I then tried to stay still and calm, while Angel barked and tried to gnaw at the sand around her back. Number One Rule when against an enemy is to never show fear. If they do, it's all over. Well, in this case, being Gaara, you really shouldn't piss him off by being pissed off…which is almost impossible for me.

"Let us go!" Ten-Ten screamed, her legs flailing in every possible direction.

"How did you know where they were?" Neji demanded.

"I could feel them slightly shaking when my sand was released," Gaara replied.

"This guy is acting like a demon," Shikamaru whispered to Naruto. "Let me handle him."

"He can act like a demon if he wants to," Naruto said. "Because you know what? I have the _real_ thing inside of me."

Neji switched his gaze to Naruto.

"A demon, huh?" Gaara said. "Well, I have a demon inside me too, and mine is as real as yours. You see, my father wanted me to be the greatest shinobi, so he cast his ninjutsu on my unborn self, infusing it with the spirit of sand. The death of my mother was the birth of me. My father pampered and protected me. And then, it happened..."

"What happened?" Neji demanded.

"Are you going to tell us or not?" Naruto asked.

"At the age of six, my father tried to kill me more times than I could count," Gaara looked up, his eyes bloodshot. "Instead of becoming the village's greatest weapon, I had become the village's greatest threat. Since I had failed the purpose I was created for, I had to find another purpose. For if you have no purpose, than living would be the same thing as being dead. For a while, I pondered this, than it all came to me. To live, I must simply kill."

Naruto was shaking like a leaf and took a step back.

"Hey, what are you doing?" Shikamaru yelled.

More of Gaara's sand rose up and started hurling down towards them.

"Naruto!" Shikamaru screamed. "Wake up, Naruto! Oh man, what a drag!"

I clenched my fists and looked at Gaara.

"What the hell did they do?" I asked simply. Not with anger, or with sadness, it was more like a plain 'What the _hell_ did they _do_?' "It's not like they ever did anything to you."

Gaara looked up at me, but said nothing. What was that strange look in his eye? The sand suddenly lifted me upside down and made my face come close to Gaara's.

"Why aren't you afraid?" he growled, looking me dead in the eye. "I could kill you if I wanted to."  
"Why would I be afraid?" I matched his stare. "When facing death, you can't show any emotion, or it'll cloud your mind with thoughts and hold you back from accepting fate."

Man, could that have sounded any more emo? But it had to sound like I didn't care and wasn't scared. Not that I was, it was just Gaara for God's sake. Still, there was that little alarm going off in the back of my head, telling me to keep on my toes.

Sand suddenly covered my eyes, and something cold pressed up against my neck. It felt like a knife of some sort. Before I could actually think about what it was, I heard a punch against sand.

"Don't touch her," Neji's voice growled.

I opened my eyes and met pure blackness. I heard a clatter of metal and some sand shift.

"All right, that's enough!" said a voice.

I looked towards the doorway. I could tell it was Gai sensei standing there.

"Don't waste your time and energy for the competition," he said.

Gaara made quaky breathing noises as the sand was removed from my eyes and I could see again. Ten-Ten and Angel landed on their feet, while I landed on my bottom and just sat there. Gaara's hand was clutching his hair as he made his way to the doorway.

"All the same, I swear I'll kill you," he growled. "I'll kill you all."

He looked at me and left the room.

"Hey, are you okay?" Naruto ran over to me.

"I guess," I murmured, dusting myself off.

Neji offered me a hand, but I declined it and got up myself.

"Sorry about what, um, happened," Shikamaru said. "I'm Shikamaru and this is Naruto."

"Madeline," I shrugged as 'it's okay.' "I'm not exactly what you would call 'the lucky type,' so I'm used to that kinda stuff happening to me. But it gets really annoying sometimes."

Shikamaru nodded.

"I don't want to be mean, but, what are you doing with Neji?" Naruto asked after a moments of silence.

I turned my head towards Neji.

His regular frown deepened as he looked at Naruto and Shikamaru.

"You'd better not tell anyone this, got it?" the veins near his eyes appeared.

Naruto nodded, and Shikamaru shrugged. (That's my move, DAMMIT!)

"As you already know, this is Madeline," Neji started. "But, she's not from this world. She was transported here by a powerful source of energy. She knows everything of this world though, every person and every known village. My team found her lying near the main gate of Konoha. We took her to this hospital where she was knocked out for about twenty-four hours."

I turned to face Gai.

"I just didn't want people to get freaked out and asked questions," I said to him, more to my feet than him. "Plus, who would believe me?"

"It's okay, Madeline," Gai smiled. "I actually could tell that you weren't from here. If I were in the same situation as you, I would've done the same thing."

I gave him a questioning look.

"Mmm-hmm," he said that as if I said something. "Oh, that reminds me, since you have a Hidden Leaf Village headband, would you like to join a team?"

"Okay," I smiled, shrugged, and my eyebrows rose slightly, all at the same time.

"But, Madeline, are you even a ninja?" Naruto asked.

"I dunno. I don't think I even have chakra."

"I'll check," Neji said.

His Byakugun veins appeared for about ten seconds before fading.

"Looks like you do," he said.

"Which team will you be on then?" Ten-Ten asked.

"I dunno. I'd like to meet some other senseis before I decide."

"Hmmmm…Oh, and if you're going to be a ninja, then you might want to change into some other clothes," Gai said. "Ten-Ten, would you like to go shopping with Madeline?"

"Yes, sensei!" Ten-Ten beamed.

I looked myself over. It probably wasn't a good idea to train in these clothes anyway. I nodded though, trying to keep a straight face because of my major distaste in it.

"Don't even think about trying to pay us back," Gai said. "Meet us at the food court after you guys are done for some lunch."

I nodded again before grabbing Angel's leash and my backpack and running out the door because Ten-Ten was already halfway to the hospital's exit.

**Um…yeah. So this is Chapter 2…and that's it.**


	3. Huh?

**Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto or any of the brand names I mention in this story. I also don't own any of the music lyrics that appear.**

Chapter 3

Huh?

"Let's go over there!" Ten-Ten pointed to a store.

"Um, okay," I shrugged.

We entered the store and I was immediately overwhelmed. Shorts, shirts, jackets, and vests hung up on racks in every possible location while sandals, gloves, sashes, and that cloth you wrap around your arms and legs were stacked on shelves. Pouches that could hold small weapons and other items were placed in small plastic containers.

I picked out a small dark purple, almost black T-shirt and another pair of shorts that was the exact same thing that I had from my world. I also chose a tight olive green vest, zipped up. I pulled on black sandals that covered every part of my foot except my toes. I slipped on those elbow cloth things on my…erm…elbows. (The ones that Sakura wears in Shippuuden. Let's just call them…elbow cloth.) I finally pulled on a two black leather glove with its fingers cut off to my hands, attached a small weapon pouch to my waist and right thigh, and tied my headband around my right shoulder.

I looked at myself in a mirror in the dressing room and shrugged at the possibility.

"Let me see!" Ten-Ten said, knocking on the door repeatedly.

"Ok, keep your pants on!" I growled, flinging the door open.

"On my gosh!" Ten-Ten squealed. "You look perfect! Just tie your hair two low pigtails with a strands hanging on each side of your cheeks."

"Okay, sure."

I did what she suggested. We then paid for the clothes and went to a weapon store. All the weapons you could think of were lined up on the walls and in glass cases. The shopkeeper greeted Ten-Ten while I browsed. I definitely wanted the shuriken and kunai, and was considering the needles.

"You should get these too," Ten-Ten pointed.

I followed her finger. It was placed above some makibishi and bombs. I nodded.

"Where are they?" I groaned.

We had been walking around for 15 minutes, trying to find our 'group.' At the weapon store, I had bought a billion kunai, shuriken, and explosive tags, along with a five hundred set of makibishi, about fifteen bombs, and a handful of needles. I had also bought an emergency blanket, flashlight, and other necessities. We looked around for the others for around five minutes before we spotted them.

"Madeline, is that you?" Naruto asked. "You look like a total ninja now!"

"Thanks."

The short blonde grinned at me.

"Come, sit down, and eat, Madeline," Gai waved his hand.

I shrugged and we walked over. There was a long and thin table that was in front of the kitchen where the people cooked. Small round chairs lined the table. I sat down in a chair in between Neji and Shikamaru and tied Angel's leash to the bar under my seat. I glanced disapprovingly at the menu. Most of the items were meat or high in carbs or calories: ramen bowl, barbequed pork, noodles, and a bunch of other stuff. I finally found something I knew I liked.

"I'll have the rice balls," I said. "With a banana."

"I'll have the ramen bowl," Guy said.

"Make that two," Neji added.

"I'll start off with five of them!" Naruto chimed in.

"Just some rice balls," Shikamaru sighed.

"Hey, Maddie," Ten-Ten said. "How old are you?"

The chef set down our food. I grabbed one of the rice balls and bit into it.

"Twelve and a half," I replied, peeling my banana.

Naruto spit out his noodles. Gross.

"WHAT?!" he screamed. "You can't be serious!! You're like 56 or something!"

"54 and a half, but by the time I'm about fourteen, I'll be like 56 or even higher. Besides, you guys aren't that much shorter than me."

"Are you kidding?! I only go up to your neck! Shikamaru and Neji here are the only ones who are about your height! And Neji's older than you!"

"Only by half a year and maybe you guys are just short. Is it the food they give you, or is it just because everyone my age is only like two inches shorter than me, not like five?"

"Well, this is the place," Ten-Ten slid the door open to the condo.

I took off my sandals and walked on the shiny, wooden floorboards. Yellow sunlight streamed in through the patterned glass windows. There were two doors that lead to a small, but nice bedroom. Another door lead to the bathroom, while the door near the end of the room lead to a balcony. A small table with chairs surrounding it and fridge was in the puny kitchen.

"Nice," I complimented, opening the door to the balcony.

I leaned against the railing and gazed at the view. Thousands and thousands of lush green trees spread out to the horizon with apartments and buildings dotting the land. Since it was about dusk, the sky was a painting of purples, blues, and pinks. The sun was a setting crimson orb, blending orange with lilac.

"Isn't it pretty?" Ten-Ten sighed happily.

I nodded and looked around the balcony. A small wooden table and two wooden beach chairs were in the left corner, and a short, metal ladder lead up to the roof.

We continued to watch the sunset until the sky was a dark navy blue sprinkled with stars. The moon was a bright white circle that radiated brilliantly. We went back inside after a while: Ten-Ten went straight to her bedroom while I brushed my teeth. I then entered the bathroom to take a nice, warm, shower. I took a look at the shampoo Ten-Ten had. Luckily, she had the two shampoos I used: this type of shampoo that helped prevented flakes, and just regular, tangle-free shampoo. She also had conditioner that helped prevent spilt-ends. I hurriedly took the shower, dressed in my Green Day pajamas, and entered my bedroom.

The room was pretty nice. A plain, white bed was in the middle of the room while a fan with a lamp spun lazily above my head. Slants of intense moonlight that would make for a great shadow puppet show washed over the whole room. I turned off the light and crawled into the blankets. Angel trotted over to my pillow a couple of seconds later and snuggled up against my head.

I groaned and put the pillow over my head. It had been two hours since I crept into the bed, and I couldn't go to sleep. I had tried _every_ trick I knew how to go to sleep: count sheep, erase your mind, pretend you're on a cloud floating over a pine forest, blah, blah, blah. None of them worked.

I slipped out of the blankets, grabbed my iPod, silently exited the room, and slid the door open to the balcony. The moon was higher in the sky now and the stars seemed brighter and more visible. The view was as beautiful as the sunset. I spotted the ladder, climbed it, and sat on the roof. I put in my earplugs and started listening to Pennywise.

"Madeline, what are you doing up there?" came a voice.

Amazingly, I was able to hear the voice, despite the fact that the music was blaring in my ears. I looked around before I spotted Naruto's head sticking out of a window a couple condos away from mine. I put the iPod on pause.

I gave him a small wave, not bothering him to answer him. He waved back and closed his window. I gazed at the moon for a couple more minutes, climbed down the ladder, slid the door of the balcony closed, entered my room, and finally went to sleep.

I yawned and opened my eyes. Faint moonlight was still streaming through my window, but sunlight was breaking through the night sky.

"Seven hours of sleep," I groaned. "Too earrrrrrrlllllyyyyyyy."

I got dressed in the clothes I bought the other day and slid my door open, Angel following me out. Ten-Ten was tying her chocolate brown hair into two buns.

"Good morning," she smiled. "I'm going to go train with Neji, wanna come?"

I shook my head after a moment of thought, "I'll just meet you there."

"Well, I'm going to go get some breakfast. You should at least come for that."

"……Okay, sure."

We put on our sandals, attached Angel to her leash, left the condo, and walked to the same restaurant we ate at the other day.

"You two are out early," the chief remarked. "It's only 4:30 am."

"Well, we need to help our friends get ready for the final rounds of the Chuunin Exam," I replied, giving Angel a piece of orange chicken that I had ordered for her.

"Ahh, well, tell them I wish them luck."

"What will you do until the exam?" Ten-Ten asked after we had finished and paid for the food.

"I don't know, nuthin, I guess. Maybe check out the training grounds, or just walk around and get to know the place better. Or even better, get more sleep. What time does the competition start?"

"I think at 10:00 am or something like that. Here's the key to our condo just in case you need to go back for some unknown reason. See you at the final rounds!"

"See ya."

She gave me the keys and waved before walking off. I put the keys in my pouch on my waist and sighed. I sat down in a seat at the restaurant and dozed for about two hours. I was awoken by something poking me. Angry, I opened my eyes to find the chief's assistant looking at me weirdly. I wearily stared back at her until she headed back into the kitchen.

"You've been here a while," the chief said.

"Yeah...I guess…"

"I thought you were going to help some of your friends."

"I was, but I just don't know where they are. I have another friend in the hospital, but I don't really feel like going there, and my brother is no where to be found. I guess if I walk around; I'll get lost, and be late for the competition. Wait, when have I ever worried about being late? Weird."

"I hear that they give the patients breakfast at 7:00 am. You should get there around 7:15 if you leave now."

"Really?" I didn't say this in an excited tone, just a tired tone because I had just woke up.

"That's what I was told."

I slid off the seat and left the restaurant, glad to have finally found something to do.

"Okay, Miss Maddie," the woman at the front desk said. "We'll inform you when we're ready. Please stay in the waiting room for the time being."

I nodded and sat down in a chair. I lifted Angel up and had her rest on my shoulder and hood. Her back legs rested in the hood while her forearms lay on my shoulder. I looked up when I saw Gai enter the room ten minutes later.

"Hey, Gai sensei," I said.

"Lee's feeling better," he said. "Follow me"

Gai led the way to the room I had woken up in. Lee was sitting up in his bed and smiling.

"Hi, Lee," I gave him a practice smile. "Feeling better?"

"Yes. Thank you for asking," Lee replied.

"Lee, this is Madeline," Gai said. "The girl I told you about earlier."

"Oh, hi," Lee blushed a little. "You're from a different world, right?"

"Uh-huh…Please don't tell anyone."

"You have my word."

I nodded.

"So, are you going to be at the final rounds of the Chuunin Exam?" I finally broke the freaking silence.

"You bet!"

"Well, we should probably get going. I want to get there early."

"You go ahead, Madeline," Gai said. "I think Lee could use a little more rest."

"Okay, whatever's your choice."

I gave them a small wave and left the room. I guess I should've been a little nicer, or at least sound like I wasn't bored, but I can't just do that. I have to be in the right mood, which doesn't happen a lot. Nothing really happens. Unless you count me getting sucked in this world.

Angel started whimpering.

_You know that you're in the final rounds, right?_

"Who said that?" I looked around.

_Me, you idiot!_

I looked at Angel.

"Was that you, Angel?" I asked.

_Who else?_

"Wait, so I can talk to you like Kiba does to Akamaru?"

_Yeah, sure, something like that._

"Hm...now what were you saying?"

_You are in the final rounds of the Chuunin Exam. I'm not so sure how though. I picked up some information from some shinobi passing by us yesterday. They were talking about how the 3__rd__ Hokage just found out that there was a girl who was the 10__th__ candidate._

"Are you serious?"

_Positive._

"Well, then. In that case..."

I thought about going back to Lee's room, and asking Gai sensei's advice, but decided against it. I'll just show up at the exam, then ask the questions and figure it out. Besides, his advice always had something to do with youth.

I spun on my heel and left the hospital.

**So, things are starting to get a little weird, right? What'll happen next? Keep reading to find out!**


	4. Lord Hokage

Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto or any of the brand names I mention in this story

**Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto or any of the brand names I mention in this story. I also don't own any of the music lyrics that appear.**

Chapter 4

Lord Hokage

I approached the guards near the double doors of the arena. I had stopped by the condo, grabbed two Skittles packages and my iPod nano, and put them into my weapons pouch on my waist. They nestled against the Shuriken.

"Welcome," one of the guards greeted. "You're an early one. Are you a participant or a spectator?"

"Um, well, I'm hearing rumors that there is a 10th participant in the Third Exam," I said, trying to sound casual and not curious. "True?"

"Yes, Lord Hokage just found out," the second guard replied. "The name of the person is...Madeline. Is that you?"

"Yeah."

Angel growled.

_I told you._

"I know, now shut up," I whispered to her.

The guards looked at each other.

"Lord Hokage would actually like to speak to you. He's inside on the arena grounds. Take the hallway to the left."

I nodded as thanks.

They opened the doors and I took the silver, metal hallway. My footsteps echoed as I walked.

I finally came to a doorway and stepped out onto the dirt. Lord Hokage was standing in the middle of the grounds, talking to a man wearing a blue skull cap. He wore the same green vest as Gai and chewed on a long toothpick. They both looked up when I appeared.

"Um, Lord Hokage, you wanted to see me?" I asked meekly.

"Ah, yes," the 3rd Hokage smiled. "Procter, would you mind?"

The Procter nodded and disappeared.

"So, I'm guessing you're Madeline, right?" Lord Hokage asked.

"That's me!" I smiled."So, what did you want to talk to me about?"

"I just wanted to compliment you on how you did during the First and Second Exams."

"Huh..."

I didn't say 'huh' like a confused 'huh?' It was more like a 'huh' that meant weird.

"Madeline, what are you doing down here?" a voice came.

Lord Hokage and I turned to see Neji was standing a couple yards behind us.

"Hey, Neji," my smile was gone. "I was just speaking to Lord Hokage. Somehow, I'm in the Final Rounds of the Chuunin Exam."

"Impossible," Neji whispered. "You weren't even here during the First or Second Exams."

There was silence.

"When did you find this out?" Neji suddenly asked.

"Yesterday, why?" the Hokage replied.

"Exactly. Isn't it quite obvious that somebody could've snuck to where the recordings were, written down Madeline's name, and then escaped? Did you even know that Madeline isn't from here? That she's from another dimension?"

"Is this true?" Lord Hokage turned to me.

I nodded.

"Excuse me, Lord Hokage," the Procter stepped next to me. "But we have other participants waiting to enter the grounds and most of the spectators have arrived. We'll be starting very shortly."

"Thank you, Procter," the 3rd Hokage replied before turning to me and Neji. "We'll discuss this later."

We both nodded. Lord Hokage left the grounds as Shikamaru and Gaara appeared from the doorway. With them was a girl with her dirty blond hair tied in four buns and carrying a giant fan, a boy with his face smeared with purple paint and wearing a black hood over his head, and another boy with spiky brown hair and wearing round, black glasses whose hands were in his pockets.

We all got in a line. I moved in between Neji and Shikamaru, so I couldn't be next to Gaara, since I was still feeling a bit uncomfortable around him.

"How did you get here?" Shikamaru asked me.

"I'll explain later," I sighed.

"AHHH!!" came a shout.

We all turned around to the doorway. Naruto jumped onto the ground and belly slid towards us, having Shikamaru help him up when he stopped.

"Hey, where's Sasuke?" Naruto asked after he regained conscious. "Madeline, what the heck are you doing here?"

Shikamaru muttered something someone else missing that I couldn't make out.

"Hey, be quiet," the Procter growled.

Everyone in the stands started cheering.

"Welcome all!" Lord Hokage stood up from his seat at the top of the stands. "Thank you for coming to the Chuunin Exam at the village hidden in the leaves. We ask that nobody leaves until the final competition is over. So enjoy!"

"Remember who you'll be fighting," the Procter took out a piece of parchment.

I squinted at the paper. First match was with Naruto vs. Neji, second me vs. Gaara, third Sasuke vs. whoever wins the second match, fourth Kankurou vs. Shino, and fifth Temari vs. Shikamaru. Oh joy.

"You've got to be shittin' me," I muttered.

Naruto raised his hand.

"What is it?" the Procter asked.

"What would happen to someone who doesn't show up?"

"He is disqualified if he doesn't show when his name is called. Alright?"

There was a moment of awkward silence after we nodded.

The Procter started to explain the rules, which I completely ignored. I didn't need to listen any of this, so I just stared up at the sky and twirled a piece of my hair with my index finger. Shikamaru didn't seem to be paying much attention either.

"And no arguments allowed, understood?" the Procter finished. "Hey! Pay attention!"

I lazily switched my gaze to him, giving him a blank look.

"Anyway, the candidates for the first match are: Naruto Uzumaki vs. Neji Hyuuga. The rest of you wait in the waiting area."

We walked across the grounds to a doorway.

"You gotta help keep me away from Gaara," I whispered to Shikamaru as walked up two flights of stairs.

"I'll try," he sighed.

We walked across a metal hallway until we came to a metal balcony that looked out across the grounds. I stood next to Shikamaru.

Neji and Naruto faced each other. There was silence before Naruto put his fist in front of him.

"I vow to win," Naruto growled.

Neji blinked and his Byakugun veins appeared.

"I can't wait to see you lose," Neji smirked, getting into a fighting stance.

"Hurry up! I'm getting bored!"

Dust and leaves swirled across the ground with the help of some wind.

"All right, now let the first match, BEGIN!"

**Yay! The beginning of the Final Part of the Chunnin Exam!**


	5. Naruto vs Neji

**Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto or any of the brand names I mention in this story. I also don't own any of the music lyrics that appear.**

Chapter 5

Naruto vs Neji

The crowd started cheering wildly, then settled. Naruto and Neji just stood there, facing each other. It felt like hours before Neji moved his feet a little. Naruto threw three Kunai Knifes at Neji and ran towards him.

Neji blocked the knives. He pushed Naruto to the side, blocking the punch. Naruto then did a backflip and started throwing punches at Neji. Neji blocked them all and released some of his chakra to stun Naruto. His left index finger jabbed Naruto's shoulder, right at a chakra point. Naruto rolled back, and sat there, panting, clutching his shoulder.

"See?" Neji sneered. "You can't beat me."

"Yeah right, I was just testing you," Naruto smirked and got up. "Now let's get this party started! SHADOW CLONE JUTSU!"

He put two of his fingers together. Four Naruto clones appeared out of smoke and grabbed a Kunai Knife.

"You can't get past me," Neji smirked.

"We'll just see about that!" all five of the Naruto grinned.

"Well, come on then."

Four clones charged at him. Neji grabbed support on two of the clones' backs and flipped over. He then blocked two of the clones' incoming attack with the knives. One of the clones finally got a hit on Neji by kicking him in the chest, making him fly in the air. Neji turned the flight into a backflip and landed on his feet next to one of the clones.

"I bet you can't do that again!" a clone remarked.

Two clones charged at Neji, one on one side of him and the other on the other side. Neji jumped and spun a 900 in the air before kicking the clones and reducing them to a cloud. The last of the clones ran at him with the Kunai Knives from behind. Neji grabbed them, pulled them in front of him, and pushed them into the air, they too reducing to a cloud after landing.

"You could never be Hokage," Neji sneered again. "My eyes show me that people's limitations are unchangeable. Someone who tries to change their destiny is only wasting their time."

"Who gave you the right to judge someone's destiny?" Naruto growled.

"It doesn't take just hard work to be Hokage. You are destined to be Hokage at birth, not by merely trying. Each person must follow his path destiny until death, the only destiny that we all share."

"...So? I don't care what you think. SHADOW CLONE JUTSU!!"

About a hundred Naruto Clones appeared and they all charged at Neji. Neji's Byakugun veins appeared as he dodged a clone's punches and started socking him in the face. He avoided all three other clones punches, hit them in the face, and backflipped over a fourth clone.

"I'm not going to be fooled by that trick," Neji sprinted to the end of the crowd of clones.

He stabbed at a clone in the chest with his fingers.

"You're the one who's holding back for me striking your chakra points. You show the more you hold back and the others attack!"

Three clones disappeared in a cloud of smoke around them.

"You're the real one, aren't you?"

Four more clones disappeared.

"Didn't I tell you, you couldn't beat me?"

"Heh, heh, heh," the clone snickered. "And I'm going to tell you that it's stupid to count me out."

He then disappeared in a white cloud. Two Naruto jumped into the air and hurled down at Neji.

"Did you think that I would be too much of a chicken to take you on myself?!" Naruto cried, aiming a punch at Neji as he hurled down.

Naruto's punch hit Neji's left temple, but it floated in a flame of blue chakra. Neji's body released chakra as he spun in a circle, sending Naruto and his clone into the air and landing on the ground.

"What was that?" Shikamaru muttered.

"Did you really think you'd won?" Neji did his famous sneer.

Naruto got up and created six clones. They ran and formed a complete circle around Neji. Neji got into the Rotation fighting stance as Naruto and his clones charged once more. He spun around in a 360 degree circle, sending the clones flying again.

Shikamaru put his hand on his chin and leaned on the railing. I yawned silently and my fingers danced around my charm as I saw Gaara's eyes narrow.

"You can't escape my 8 trigrams," Neji growled. "...Gentle fist art, 8 trigrams, 64 points."

He got into another fighting stance, his knees bent and his arms stretched out. He jumped at Naruto and started jabbing his chakra points. He yelled out that he hit 2 points, then 4, 6, and so on. Naruto flew into the air and landed on the ground with a thud. The Procter walked towards them.

"You're lucky to be alive since I've struck all 64 of your chakra points."

Naruto muttered something and tried to get up. Neji continued to taunt him. I rolled my eyes. This was the only part of the series where I didn't like Neji. He was such an asshole.

Naruto coughed, raised his head, slowly got up, and started panting. Neji muttered something and Naruto said something back so softly that I couldn't make it out.

"Stop this madness," Neji growled again. "You'll only get more of the same. I have nothing against you personally."

"You're going to make me cry," Naruto smirked. "Anyway, I've got plenty against you."

Neji said he didn't know what he meant and Naruto said that Neji tore Hinata down when she worked hard to get to the Chuunin Exam.

"It doesn't concern you."

"That stuff about the Hyuuga clan, who cares? You can't judge a person by what they can and can't do!"

"Fine. I'll tell you about our little clan. The main branch of the family as practiced 'The Curse Mark Jutsu'. It's a secret ninjutsu that symbolizes those who can't escape their destiny."

Neji removed his headband. Branded on his forehead was a green 'X' and two green curved staffs facing horizontally.

"So that's it," Naruto muttered.

Neji then explained how he got the mark on the day of the treaty between the Land of Lightning and the Hidden Leaf Village after the war. He also told the story of Hinata's abduction and how his uncle, Hiashi, killed the man. It turned out the man who tried to kidnap Hinata was the leader of the Land of Lightning, the one who had signed the treaty.

"The Land of Lightning demanded the death of the person who had killed their ninja," Neji continued. "If there was to be peace, Lord Hiashi must die. The Leaf Village accepted their terms. And so to avert a war, a man was killed, but not Hiashi. My father, his twin brother was killed in his place! In order to protect the main household! Only in death was my father finally free of this evil Curse Mark!

"They were so much alike, twin brothers, but their destinies had been determined long ago, when one was born a few seconds after the other."

I bit my lip, secretly though.

"And this match is the same," Neji continued gravely. "Your destiny is to lose to me."

Neji put his headband back on.

"I understand that your father was killed long ago," Naruto said. "But that doesn't have to do anything with destiny."

"You will NEVER understand," Neji got into a fighting stance and his Byakugun veins appeared once more.

He charged at Naruto, released some of his chakra from his hand, and pushed Naruto into the air. Naruto landed with a thud on the ground.

"W-wait," Naruto groaned after Neji turned around. "I'm not done with you yet. I don't quit. That's my nindo, my ninja way."

"Hm, those words sound familiar to me."

"Well, if you believe in your STUPID destiny, then why are you turning away from it?"

"You don't know what it's like to have a mark that can't be taken away!"

"I know EXACTLY what that's like. So, who cares?"

"You little……"

"Man, you think you've got troubles? I've got news for you Neji, you aren't the only special one around here. Do you ever think Maddie will be able to see her family again? Her friends? Her best friend? She was torn apart from everyone she knew and loved without even the slightest warning. All she has now is her dog to give her love, which isn't much if you ask me."

Neji's eyes narrowed and I felt everyone's eyes on me. Naruto coughed a couple of times.

"Heh, it's impossible for you to beat me with all your points blocked," Neji smirked, ignoring Naruto. "Unless you can prove me wrong."

"That's exactly what I'm going to do. Right now."

_He can use the Nine Tailed Fox's chakra_, I thought.

Naruto made a hand sign. He screamed as bright orange chakra emitted, clearing up his face and raising pebbles from the ground.

"AHHHHH!!"

I yawned again, Gaara shook slightly, and Neji put his arms in front of his face.

The chakra stopped twisted and started flowing upward. Naruto disappeared in a flash. Neji spun around to see Naruto throw three shuriken at him, but he preformed Rotation to deflect the weapons just in time. He then caught them, pulled out three of his own, and threw them at Naruto who was hurling down towards him.

Naruto disappeared in another flash, so the six shuriken stuck to the marble wall surrounding the arena. Neji dodged just in time to have Naruto miss a punch. They both grabbed a Kunai Knife and threw them at each other, but the knives collided and fell to the ground. Neji and Naruto jumped, grabbed their knives, slashed at each others knife through the air, and finally landed.

Naruto charged at Neji, rocks flying behind him.

Neji started powering up his chakra to use Rotation. They're knifes clanged as they hit against each other and there was a blinding flash of white light.

An explosion erupted as rocks, dust, and dirt flew everywhere. The ground rumbled as I clutched the railing for support. Two figures flew into the cloud of gray dust. The smoke finally cleared, revealing two deep holes two meters apart from each other.

Neji's arm popped out of one of the holes as he climbed out, coughing. He stumbled to the other hole where Naruto was, panting.

Neji mumbled something about destiny again.

Suddenly, Naruto's hand appeared from beneath Neji's feet. The fist nailed him under the jaw and Neji flew into the air and landed with a thud as Naruto set down to his feet. Naruto heaved in oxygen, his hand dripping blood.

"I...can't...move," Neji groaned.

Naruto walked towards Neji.

"I should've guessed you'd use that Shadow Clone Jutsu. It's your specialty after all. I was careless."

"You know, I failed the exam for graduation four times," Naruto replied, panting. "I could never master the Shadow Clone Jutsu. Don't tell me that you can't change who you are."

I spotted a brown robin fly in the air.

"The winner is, Naruto Uzumaki."

**Whew! That took a lot of episode watching! My fight is next!**


	6. And Why Are You Here?

**Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto or any of the brand names I mention in this story. I also don't own any of the music lyrics that appear.**

Chapter 6

And Why Are You Here?

The crowd went wild, screaming and cheering.

I smirked and shook my head. For once the blond actually _won_.

Naruto grinned and started running around, blowing kisses.

"Uh, Naruto defeated Neji?" Shikamaru groaned. "Oh man, I can't believe it. And I thought Naruto was the same as me, one of the dorky and uncool guys. Now everyone will say that he'll make something big of himself. Just great, I doubt I could beat him now. This is really bad. I've never felt so depressed. What a drag."

"You aren't dorky and uncool," I laughed. "At least it doesn't seem like it to me. And just because he beat Neji doesn't mean you can't still beat him."

He groaned and let his head fall between his arms. Neji was taken to an infirmary on a stretcher while Naruto ran through the doorway, up the stairs, and joined us on the balcony.

"I WON!!" he shouted.

"That's what I'm talking about!" I smiled, gave him a high five, and yawned. Maybe staying up last night wasn't such a good idea.

I stopped when I glanced at Gaara. My eyes narrowed and I stared into space for a couple of minutes.

"Come on! Where's the next match?" the crowd started to shout.

Angel whimpered.

_Are you sure about this? _

"Pretty darn," I murmured back.

I gripped the rail and sighed. I certainly wasn't in the mood, or state to fight, too tired; but I didn't want everyone to think I was a chicken either. Handing Angel to Shikamaru, I put my foot on the rail and jumped off. Since the balcony was only a couple of yards above the ground, I didn't have a problem landing. However, when I landed, my feet screamed in pain.

"And you are?" the Procter asked.

"It's my match, right?" I said in a bored tone. "Or did some douche mess it up and now I'm fighting for nothing?"

"Eager, aren't we?" every word he said was dripping with sarcasm.

"Define eager."

"Hey, you up there, come down!"

Gaara's eyes narrowed before he turned around and disappeared. He reappeared a minute later and stood in front of me.

"The next match: Madeline vs. Gaara. Begin!" the Procter jumped back.

Gaara smirked as sand started to come out of his jar. I took my turtle charm, kissed it lightly, and pressed it to my forehead.

_Please, give me the luck and power not to die in this match._

I then opened my eyes and jumped back.

"What the hell am I thinking?" I muttered. "I can't control my chakra! Maybe I can harness my stamina in my feet and get really fast…worth a shot."

I closed my eyes and gathered all the stamina I could get, well tried to at least. I ran at normal speed, tripped, and fell. Why didn't that work? I'm like the fastest person in my P.E. class! Gaara shook his head and the sand charged at me. Panicked, I frantically got up, but the sand came down at me like a sledgehammer. I flew through the air and landed in the dirt. Pain shot through my arms, legs, back, and stomach.

"What the heck are you doing, Madeline?!" Naruto screamed.

I gave him a sarcastic smile, shakily got up, and threw three shuriken lamely at Gaara. The sand rose up and formed a sand clone of him. The clone grabbed the shuriken before they could hit Gaara. It then threw the weapons back at me. I shoulder-rolled to the left and managed to dodge two of the shuriken, but before I could get up, I felt something tug on my ponytail. I looked behind me and found more than half of my ponytail lying in the dirt. I pulled out my black elastic and my hair just touched the middle of my neck. It didn't matter. This was how long my hair was in the real world. I was planning on cutting it to this length anyway.

I sighed and tried to think. I absolutely did _not_ want to come into hand-to-hand combat. That was the one thing I hated, the one thing I sucked at. That's why when I played Halo 3 with my friends, I was always the sniper. Fly a Banshee to a high, hidden spot and break out the distance weapons.

Maybe that's the technique I should use now. Some well aimed sniper shots with bursts of battle rifle and magnum…

But Gaara's good at long ranged attacks too. Damn it. I'll have to make it look like I'm pulling off long ranged attacks, then try to break through the sand.

I quickly looked around. There were only a few trees and medium-sized boulders that was it. Those will probably provide me with enough cover to hide in, hopefully. I reached into my thigh holster and felt for a kunai. I then discretely wrapped an explosive tag around the handle and threw it at Gaara. The sand came up and protected Gaara, naturally.

The kunai stuck in the sand, perfect. Some of the other sand, came after me, so I jumped back and counted to three. _BAM!_ The sand exploded and spread like wildfire. Now's my chance. I ran towards the trees while wrapping explosive tags around kunai. I threw them before the smoke and dust cleared. Four explosions followed where the dust was and a fifth to the side of the wall. I dived behind a boulder and hurriedly threw four more knives and five shuriken. I then added a smoke bomb and a handful of makibishi.

I decided to move up in a tree, just in case he saw what direction the weapons were coming from. As I sprinted for the closest tree, I threw tree more kunai with explosives and grabbed about four needles and shot them towards the smoke. Hopefully, I didn't poke Gaara in the eye, or I would feel horrible about it. I scampered up the tree to one of its highest branches and waited, hiding behind the trunk.

The smoke, dust, and sand finally settled, so everyone could see if I did some damage or not. This is what I was hoping to happen: I was throwing the kunai with explosive tags at the sand, not Gaara. I was hoping that the sand would explode and separate, because it's harmless when it's only in grains. While the sand is down, I would have to throw in some kunai and shuriken to try to get him. The smoke bomb was to try to create more confusion and stress.

Now let me explain what the makibishi were for. When I threw that second set of explosives, I was hoping they would take him back and he would step all over them, maybe even fall on them. I just wanted to try out the needles, to see how fast I could throw them.

It looks like I got some results. Gaara was standing there, motionless, but there were two needles in his left forearm, a couple cuts from shuriken and kunai most likely on the top of his wrist, and it looked like his right sandal had been punctured a few times. All around him were the kunai, shuriken, makibishi, and the rest of the needles.

I groaned. That was all I could think of. There had to be some other way…wait, what was that? The sand was slowly coming back together, forming a clone of Gaara. It bent down, picked up the three remaining needles, and threw them at me. I thought they would just hit the trunk, so I stayed still. I was wrong. A stabbing pain that hurt like shit shot through my right shoulder and right calf.

I grabbed the one in my shoulder and yanked it out. I expected blood to shoot out as soon as the needle was gone, but it just slowly oozed. I slowly pulled out the one in my calf, trying not to tear my skin. This time, however, the blood came out more quickly than the shoulder.

I ground my teeth and glanced at the clone. It was standing in front of Gaara, arms crossed over it's chest. I'll have to try to break through the sand and get at Gaara with my fists. Damn it. Damn it all.

I wrapped an explosive tag around a kunai, then threw four shuriken as a distraction. While the sand clone caught them, I tossed the kunai. The clone threw the shuriken back at me, and my right shin and forearm were grazed by the weapons. Blood slowly seeped from the cuts and they stung pretty badly.

The kunai stuck in the clone's sandy chest, and exploded. I jumped out of the tree and dashed towards Gaara. The sand was too fast and formed another clone. I ran at the clone, shot a punch in its chest, but my fist got stuck in the sand. I hurriedly pulled it out and jumped back. Gaara smirked and the sand charged at me. I put my arms in front of my face as I was knocked back and smacked into the trunk of a tree.

I groaned and slowly stood. The sand had deepened the cuts that had already been formed by my weapons a couple of minutes ago. I could feel that my knuckles were dripping with blood inside my glove. I took one glance at my wounds, and practically fainted, suddenly feeling weak and exhausted. It felt like all of the energy had been drained out of me.

"What's the matter, Madeline?" Gaara rasped. "Afraid of a little blood?"

"No," I gave him a fake smirk. "Why do you ask?"

I suddenly felt a sharp pain below my stomach. I groaned and fell to my knees, cradling my stomach. Then, something gushed out of me. I glanced down and saw a drop of ruby red blood come out from between my legs land on the ground, creating a little swirl of dust.

"No," I whispered. "Not now."

I tried to stand, then fell back down to the ground when more blood leaked out of me.

"Oh I don't know," Gaara smirked evilly, answering my question. "Because it just seems to me that you have a little hemophobia."

The sand rose up and wrapped around my ankles and wrists. I struggled as the sand wrapped tighter and tighter.

_He's going to break my wrists and ankles so I can't fight. _I suddenly realized. _Then finish me off. I'll have to forfeit. There's nothing else I can do..._

I sighed, swallowed my pride, and looked at the Procter.

"I'm out," I said. "I forfeit. Done."

The Procter nodded.

"Gaara wins by default," he said to the crowd.

The crowd was a mixture of cheering and booing. The sand unwrapped and plopped me on the ground. I sat there, in my own little puddle of blood, rubbing my wrists. Bruises had already started to form on every part of my body and I suddenly felt extremely exhausted. Two men in white robes suddenly came out with a stretcher. They picked me up, set me down, and carried me down a metal hallway to a door.

"Guys it's not that big of a deal," I laughed as they opened the door.

The floor was tiled and the walls painted a fresh green mint. Two rows of small square windows stretched to the end of the wall. Six white beds were in there, three against a wall. I spotted Neji laying on a bed with two medics bending over him. They all looked up when we entered.

"We have another one," one of the men with me sighed.

"She most likely has broken bones probably everywhere, we're not sure," the other said. "But she _does_ have deep cuts, and there seems to be constant bleeding from, um...between her legs."

I looked down at my arms and shin. The blood had seeped through my glove and was now started to drip off a little. The blood on my forearm added to the glove, and the shin's rolled down to my ankle. A shiver rolled down my spine and I looked away as they placed me on a bed.

One of the men took off my glove and elbow cloth. The other guy pulled off my vest and shirt so only my sports bra remained. Man, was I pissed off at that moment. I felt like punching that guy in the face as hard as I could. Instead, I bit my tongue and clenched my left fist.

"This would be ten timed easier if you were a guy," the one who was checking my bones muttered, poking a rib. "Anyway, good news; none of your bones aren't broken. Unfortunately, you ever so slightly fractured two of your knuckles when you threw that punch. I'll have to put a small cast on them. They should heal in a couple of hours or so. Plus all of your stamina is used up, you may want to rest. I'm just can't figure out what's going on with that bleeding that keeps gushing out."

I opened my mouth to tell them what it was, but decided not to. I'd just borrow a red washcloth from them, then put on a tampon when I got back to the condo. The guy with my glove and elbow cloth had finally finished cleaning the wounds, and was now wrapping white gauze from my elbow to my fingers. He then asked me if I wanted my shorts to be washed. I was about to say yes, then declined. It would look a lot worse down there when I'm just in my underwear.

"What the hell happened to you?" Neji asked from across the room. "One minute you're yawning, swearing, and careless, and the next, you look like someone tried to murder you and almost succeeded."

"Well, that's just is," I replied. "My match with Gaara, remember?"

"You actually went against him?"

I nodded silently and Neji nodded back. The door at the other end of the room suddenly opened. Lord Hiashi stepped in, his white eyes giving that same cold stare that Neji's were capable of giving. He wore a white and green robe and his long black hair came down to his waist. All four of the medics looked up right at the moment the door swung open.

"Lord Hyuuga," the clothing man said.

"I'm sorry, but, could you please step out for a moment?" he asked.

"Well, we're not supposed to, um…" the gauze man replied.

"It won't take long."

"Yes. Of course."

One of the medics easily picked me up.

"She can stay," Lord Hiashi said. "I don't want to move her if she has injuries."

They nodded, placed me back on the bed, and left the room. Lord Hiashi quickly glanced at me, as if I wasn't going to live, and I could see why. My now short hair was a rat's nest and cuts and bruises laced my flesh. The cuts and fresh gauze were evident, but not as much as the blood coming out of me. Because of that, the white sheets of the bed were soaked with blood, and the puddle below kept getting bigger.

I looked at Lord Hiashi, to at Neji, who was struggling to get up. He finally succeeded and sat on the edge of his bed.

"What do you want?" he asked, staring at his feet.

"I've come to tell you what really happened on that day," Hiashi replied.

Neji looked at him.

"What?"

There was a long awkward silence. I pretended to pick at a hangnail, trying not to look at anything and act uninterested.

Hiashi reached into his robe and pulled out a scroll. He walked over to Neji's bed and held it out, "The truth is in this scroll."

Neji removed his gaze and closed his eyes.

"It's only excuses," he growled.

"You should be able to understand," Hiashi set the scroll down on the bed.

Neji finally opened his eyes and glanced at the scroll.

"That writing," he muttered.

Neji picked it up and unrolled it. Lord Hiashi took a step back as Neji started to read. Another awkward silence was present. I pulled my shirt back on, lied on the bed, and rested my head on the pillow, which was luckily not bloody. I played 'Dirty Little Secret' by The All-American Rejects, listened to it, and closed my eyes, tired from the match.

"Father," Neji whispered.

I opened my eyes, paused my iPod, and glanced over. Neji was slightly shaking.

"This is the truth," Hiashi suddenly murmured.

Neji and I looked over at him. He was on his hands and knees, his head bent low. Neji's eyes widened.

"I'm sorry..."

Neji finally exhaled and closed his eyes.

"Please, Lord Hiashi, don't bow to me," he whispered again.

Hiashi looked up, nodded, and left the room. I saw Neji smiling as a tear formed and slid down his cheek. I remembered this part of Episode 63. There was silence as Neji prayed to his father, which I also remembered. He took off his headband, walked over to the window, and stared out.

I sat up and gritted my teeth. I wanted to say something, but my mind wouldn't let me…nor did my personality, so I did what I'm famous for: staying out of it and doing absolutely nothing.

There was a sudden pounding on the door, and before we could answer, it opened.

"Man, this place was hard to find," the voice said.

I turned and grinned at who was standing there. It was none other than Lilian, my best friend from my world. Her height is around 5'3, which is an inch or so shorter than me. Lilian has shiny, black hair that reaches her shoulder blades and wears clothes from GAP. She has black and white braces and glasses. This time, though, she was wearing a black fishnet undershirt with a blue button up shirt that went down to her ribs, a black, unzipped jacket and black, baggy, shorts. She wore black sandals and leg braces on her knees. Two, fingerless, black gloves were slipped on her hands, a shuriken holster was placed on her right thigh, a weapon pouch on her waist, and a Hidden Leaf Village headband was tied around her waist as a belt. Lilian's glasses were gone, so I could finally see her brown eyes, and her braces were removed, which made her teeth perfect.

Lilian was one of those girls who liked random things, hated girly crap and people, and liked to listen to loud rock music. She's the quiet type who doesn't talk much, but will get a burst of random energy once and a while. Some people that I knew considered Lilian anti-social, and but that never crossed my mind, probably because we're the same and don't care about anything.

We do have our differences though. I'm the kind that will do anything boyish, no matter what it is. For example, if I were asked to play football in the rain and mud, I'd do it. Who cares if I get dirty? That's what makes the game fun and I could just take a shower when it was over. Dared to eat something gross like a worm? As long as I get paid. Challenged to a burping, arm wrestling, or videogame contest? No problem. Plus, I'm stubborn as an ox and always try to act tough so people can't see my sensitive side.

Bottom line: Lilian's more of the emo type and I'm the lazy, short-tempered, hardcore tomboy.

Anyway, I knew Lilian hated Naruto, which was why I was wondering why the heck she was here.

"Hey, Lilian," I said, as if it was perfectly normal to find your best friend in another dimension. "How the hell did you get here?"

"Well, let's see," she said, thinking. "You know my older sister right? Well, she was watching Naruto, as usual, when it started to rain. The next thing I know, I hear thunder and the screen of the tv is flashing like crazy. And before I can even say 'What the fuck', I wake up in a hospital bed with Team 9 in the room! I tried lying to them, but it wasn't much help. They figured that I wasn't from here pretty fast."

"Where in God's name did you stay for the night? And how did you get those clothes?"

"I should be asking you the same thing!"

"Okay, well my story is basically like yours, strangely. Noah and I were at the park with Angel, when I opened up my laptop to watch a Naruto episode. Suddenly, I heard thunder, the screen shone bright white light, and I woke up in a hospital bed with Team Gai right in my face. Literally. I lied about everything too, but I had to spill after Gaara tried to kill Lee. As for the clothing and staying, Ten-Ten and I went shopping and I'm staying at her condo."

"Oh. Hinata bought these clothes for me and I'm staying at her 'house.'"

"Oh."

Silence drifted through the air again. Lilian glanced at me, then Neji, and finally around the room.

"Shit," she said when she came to my bed. "What the hell happened to you? And why are you in

the Chuunin Exam?"

"Let's just say I got crushed by Gaara. About the exam, I dunno. I don't know what the hell is going on or how the hell it happened."

"Ahem," Neji said from behind me.

"Oh!" I turned around, rubbing the back of my head. "Sorry about that Neji. Neji, this is my friend from school, Lilian. Before you ask, yes, she's from the same world as I am. Lilian, this is Neji."

Lilian gave him a silent wave, and he shrugged.

More silence. Ugh. I hate that, but I also hate being the one to break it.

"Lilian?" I muttered. "You wouldn't have a tampon with you, would you?"

**Yay! Lilian's finally in the story! Now everything will be a bit more interesting!**


	7. Shikamaru's Match

**Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto or any of the brand names I mention in this story. I also don't own any of the music lyrics that appear.**

Chapter 7

Shikamaru's Match

The medics entered the room a couple minutes later. They convinced me to wear a robe or something so they could wash my clothes. _All_ of them. My wounds were still leaking a little, which meant I still had to stay there either way.

"But I'm going to miss the next match!" I protested as I pulled on my shirt.

"We miss almost all of the matches, so I wouldn't be complaining," cloth man said. "Hm, that bleeding from your legs has stopped. Good."

I groaned and let my head collapse on the pillow.

"Are you a visitor?" they asked Lilian, finally noticing her.

"Sure, why not," she shrugged.

The door on the other end of the room opened again and I slowly lifted my head up to see who it was this time. Naruto and Shikamaru entered the room and Angel scampered across the tile, her nails clicking. She jumped onto my bed and started licking my face.

_Are you alright?!_

"Stop, Angel!" I pushed her out of my way and sat up.

"Madeline, that match was awesome!" Naruto cried wildly.

"But, I forfeited. How is that possibly awesome?"

Naruto blabbed on and on and I decided to ignore him by blocking his annoying voice out.

"You went up against Gaara when you didn't even know how to use your chakra," Shikamaru said, picking up Angel. "But that was a type of Taijutsu you used, so you only had to control the stamina in your feet, well at least you had to try to. Plus, you threw those shuriken and kunai so accurately as if you've been doing it your whole life."

"WHAT?!" the Clothing and Gauze guy whipped around.

"No wonder your stamina was used up," Gauze Man said.

"You should rest, _now_," Clothing Man pushed me back down.

"Let me think: No, match now, rest later."

They both sighed.

"Fine, but let me check your arm," Gauze Man said.

I groaned and held it out. The man removed all of the wrappings and examined my wounds. Both the cuts on my arm and my knuckles had dried, so had the one on my shin.

"They're fine. I guess you can leave now."

"I mean, it was so cool!" Naruto exclaimed, before noticing Lilian. "Who are you?"

"My friend, Lilian," I said. "She's from the same world as I am. I've known her since fourth grade and we go to the same school."

Naruto and Shikamaru shook hands with Lilian. Lilian picked up Angel when Shikamaru put her down and started to pet her. I then left the room with Shikamaru, Naruto, Lilian, and Angel, only nodding to the medics as thanks.

We made our way back to the waiting area, except for Lilian, who decided to walk back to the stands. Gaara was now back and the crowd booing.

"Come on! Start the next match!" some people shouted.

"That Sasuke, what does he think he's doing?" Shikamaru muttered. "Forfeiting?"

Naruto glanced at Gaara.

"Don't worry," he smiled. "He's definitely going to be here!"

Gaara looked at him and they glared at each other from across me, Shikamaru, and Shino.

"What are we going to do now?" Kankurou whispered to Temari. "If he doesn't show up, our strategy is ruined."

Temari whispered something back that I couldn't make out.

My eyes narrowed and I rested my chin in my hand. I looked up as I saw a man appear and speak to the Procter. He disappeared as quickly as he had appeared.

"Listen, everyone!" the Procter announced. "One of the competitors from the next battle has not arrived yet, so, we're going to postpone this match briefly and jump ahead to the battle that would've followed this one."

The crowd let out a loud shout.

"That's good," Naruto let out a sigh of relief.

"Hey! That means my battle is one match closer, what a drag!" Shikamaru cried.

"Then onto the next battle!" the Procter continued. "So, Shino and Kankurou, come down!"

Kankurou's eyes narrowed and Shino placed his hand on the rail. Temari nodded to Kankurou.

"Procter!" he shouted. "I withdraw!……Advance to the next match!"

Naruto and Shikamaru's eyes widened and I rolled mine, not caring. The crowd let out a loud shout of disapproval, making the Procter sighed.

"Due to Kankurou's withdrawal, Shino Aburame wins by default."

The loud shout of disapproval turned into a roar of anger. Temari pulled out her fan and whipped it open. A gust of wind blew in our faces for a split second and ended as Temari jumped onto the fan and rode onto the current to the ground.

"You are?" the Procter asked the same question as he did to me.

"My turn?" Temari smiled.

"You're an eager one, aren't you? Fine, let's start the next match then. Hey, you up there! Come down!"

"Oh come on," Shikamaru muttered. "What are you doing moving these matches up like this? Why does it have to be my stupid match that has to be pushed up? Oh man, this is such a drag!"

"All right! Go on, Shikamaru, you can do it!" Naruto shouted, pushing him off the rail.

Shikamaru fell off and landed on his back. I glared at Naruto and punched him in the shoulder. I smirked when he started complaining about me and started to listen to my iPod. Shikamaru glared back up at us from the spot for about five minutes and let people throw garbage at him such as water bottles, cans, and banana peels.

"You planning on giving up too?" Temari smirked.

Shikamaru's pupils moved to the top of his eyes, so he could glare at Temari.

"Hey, Madeline," Naruto poked me.

"What?" I pulled out an earphone.

"There's music on that thing, right?"

"Yeah."

"Is there a song we can play to get Shikamaru off his ass?"

I smiled, nodded, scrolled down to the song, and showed him the title. Naruto grinned, took it, and made some hand signs. He then pressed 'Play' and _Motivation_ by Sum 41 rang through the air. Shikamaru looked up at us and I just motioned him to fight by nodding.

"This song should motivate you enough!" Naruto shouted. "Come on, Shikamaru! Get up and fight!"

"If you won't move, then I'll will!" Temari ran at Shikamaru.

Just as he was reaching into his weapon pouch, the singing started.

_What's the difference of never knowing at all?_

_When every step I take is always too small_

_Maybe it's just something I can't admit_

_But lately, I feel like I don't give a shit_

_Motivation such an aggravation_

_Accusations don't know how to take them_

_Inspiration's getting hard to fake it_

_Concentration never hard to break it_

_Situation never what you want it to be_

_What's the point of never making mistakes?_

_Self-indulgence is such a hard habit to break_

_It's all just a waste of time in the end_

_Don't care, so why should I even pretend?_

_Motivation such an aggravation_

_Accusations don't know how to take them_

_Inspiration's getting hard to fake it_

_Concentration never hard to break it_

_Situation never what you want it_

_Nothing's new _

_(Everything's the same)_

_Keep's on dragging me down_

_(It's getting kind of lame)_

_Falling further behind_

_(There's nothing to explain)_

_No matter what you say, nothing's gonna change my mind_

_Can't depend on doubt until the end_

_It seems like leaving friends has become this year's trend and now I can't pretend_

_I'm afraid to be mislead_

_It's not the same, but who's to blame for all those stupid things I never said?_

_Motivation such an aggravation_

_Accusations don't know how to take them_

_Inspiration's getting hard to fake it_

_Concentration never hard to break it_

_Motivation such an aggravation_

_Accusations don't know how to take them_

_Inspirations getting hard to fake it_

_Concentration,_

_Situation never what you want it to be_

_Never what you want it to be_

_Never what you want it to be_

_Never what you want it to be_

As the song played and repeated itself, the fight continued. Temari jumped and brought her fan down. There was an explosion followed by a giant cloud of dust. Naruto's eyes were the only ones who widened. The dust cleared, but Shikamaru was gone. Temari looked up and found that Shikamaru was standing up against the wall.

"It really doesn't make a whole lot of difference to me whether I become a Chuunin or not, but I guess maybe I shouldn't let myself get beaten by a female."

Temari's eyes narrowed. I did the same and crossed my arms.

Temari whipped open her fan and a gust of wind hit Shikamaru. After the dust cleared, there was only two Kunai Knives stuck in the wall. Temari looked behind her and smirked. I sighed, rested my hand on my chin, and glanced at a tree in the shadow of the wall. I spotted Shikamaru sitting on a branch.

Temari put her still-open fan out in front of her. I followed Shikamaru as he climbed down the tree and squatted beside the trunk. He gazed up at the sky, daydreaming. He sighed and glanced at the hole Naruto had fallen into the First Round.

"Damn it!" Naruto shouted. "Let's go, Shikamaru! We didn't play this song for nothing! It actually has some meaning!"

"Don't get your ass whooped by a girl!" I shouted.

"Speaking of which, turn that damned music off," Kankurou growled. "It's fucking annoying."

"And you're a fucking asshole who plays with dolls, but I'm not complaining, aren't I?" I replied smartly without looking at him.

Shikamaru groaned as he stood up. He then grinned.

"Ninja Art, Wind-side Jutsu!" Temari lashed out her fan.

A strong gust of wind headed towards Shikamaru. He put his arms to protect his face. The wind was so strong, that it started to cut the trees. The wind rose up and blew fiercely. We all covered our faces.

Temari closed her fan and stood there as the dust started to clear. Suddenly, a shadow appeared from the cloud and made its way towards Temari. Her eyes widened and she backflipped. The shadow kept coming when she stopped, then suddenly pulled back. Temari drew a line in the ground with her fan.

"Now I get it," she muttered.

The dust finally cleared, revealing Shikamaru kneeling and making a hand sign.

"Almost got me. Aren't you clever? With that Shadow Possession Jutsu of yours, you can manipulate any shadow you're in. The wall shadow for instance, but there's a limit, isn't there? No matter how thin you stretch it, it'll only reach so far. Isn't that right?"

"You got me," Shikamaru smiled weakly.

Temari dug her fan in the ground where the line was drawn. Shikamaru leaned up against the wall and stared up at the clouds. He then looked straight, closed his eyes, and connected his opposite fingers together. It almost looked like a hand sign.

"What is he doing?" Naruto asked.

I glanced at him and sighed, bored.

Shikamaru opened his eyes and reached into his weapon pouch.

"So, you're actually going to fight," Temari opened her fan.

She whipped it, sending a gust of wind towards Shikamaru. Shikamaru covered his face and moved behind a tree. The wind finally died down and Temari started to look around.

"You can't hide forever!" she cried. "Come out, coward!"

Temari once again flung out her fan. Another strong gust of wind was produced, followed by leaves flying and explosion with dust swirling. A Kunai Knife shot out of the cloud and landed a couple of inches ahead of the line. Temari dodged out of the way and quickly used her fan to block another knife.

Suddenly, a shadow emerged from the dust and raced towards Temari. She paused, smirked, and sat there, but backed away when the shadow passed the line. It stopped after a couple of feet.

"You're pretty quick on your toes," Shikamaru said.

"Now I've see you've been up to," Temari panted. "You weren't just hiding, you were killing time, waiting for the sun to get lower and the shadow of that wall to get longer...The longer the shadows, the farther you're range is, right?"

Shikamaru gave a weak smile. Temari just squatted there, and thought. She looked up and smirked.

"Temari!" Kankurou shouted. "ABOVE YOU!!"

Everyone in the waiting area looked up. Temari's head rose. Shikamaru's jacket tied to a Kunai Knife slowly drifted to the ground. Its shadow started to appear on the ground and the wall shadow advanced. Temari jumped back as the shadow slithered towards her.

"I've got you!" Shikamaru cried.

I glanced over at him. He was kneeling and making a hand sign. Temari jumped and slid backwards before the shadow stopped and retreated. Temari got up, opened her fan, and had the outside rest on the dirt. She smirked.

"She's about to lose," I murmured.

"Huh?" Naruto looked at me.

Angel whimpered.

_You've been watching the episodes too much. Make sure not to spoil anything for anyone. It COULD change the outline of the show..._

"Yeah, yeah," I muttered back to her.

Temari dug the outside of her fan, creating a barrier that she could hide behind. She smiled and half-stood, half-squatted. She made a hand sign, then froze.

"It took awhile," Shikamaru grinned. "But my Shadow Possession finally worked."

Naruto looked up from the rail.

"How the heck did he do that?" Kankurou muttered.

"Look behind you," Shikamaru turned his head.

Temari did the same and her eyes widened. She shook slightly.

"Don't you recognize that hole?" Shikamaru asked. "It's where Naruto popped out of the ground and knocked Neji through a loop. The hole in front of you is where he went into the ground, the two are connected."

"Now I see, I've never thought of the shadows underground."

"That was your mistake."

Shikamaru walked forward, forcing Temari to do the same. Temari gritted her teeth as she stopped in front of Shikamaru.

"Yeah!" Naruto cried. "He did it!"

I smirked and gave him the thumbs up.

The two on the field both raised their hands.

"Okay, that's it," Shikamaru said. "I give up."

"Huh?" Temari asked.

The people started screaming, shouting, and booing.

"I used up all my chakra on that Shadow Possession Jutsu," Shikamaru explained. "I'm good for another 10 seconds, that's it. Bummer, and here I'd already planned out the next 200 moves in my head, but my chakra's running low."

He put down his arm, so did Temari.

"Anyway, if I was to win this thing, it would just mean more work."

"The winner is, Temari," the Procter said to the crowd.

**Yeah, so Shikamaru's match is over…Sum 41 ROCKS!!**


	8. What's That? Sasuke's Here? Who Cares?

**Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto or any of the brand names I mention in this story. I also don't own any of the music lyrics that appear.**

Chapter 8

What's that? Sasuke's here?

Well, who cares?

Shikamaru's shadow pulled away from Temari's.

"Man, I'm beat," Shikamaru rubbed his shoulder.

"WHAT THE HELL?!" I screamed. "SHIKAMARU!!"

Remember, how I rarely yell? Well, I have a short temper so when I get mad, I explode. Naruto put his foot on the rail and jumped off. He soared through the air and landed.

"Naruto, don't!" I jumped after him.

"Hey, I want to talk to you, you idiot!" Naruto ran up to Shikamaru and pointed. "Why did you give up? Are you really that lazy, or are you just a big chicken?!"

"Hey, it's over. Let's just forget it, okay?"

"Are you kidding?! No! It's not okay!! You had that match won! You-"

"Naruto," I interrupted. "Let me handle this."

I turned to Shikamaru.

"WHAT THE HELL WAS THAT?!" I screamed, spit flying in his face. "WHAT YOU DID WAS BULL SHIT!! THAT PISSES ME OFF SO MUCH THAT I'M..."

"Lighten up, will ya?" Shikamaru groaned. "Just knock it off. There's another match, remember?"

He then smirked when I stopped yelling.

"……Yeah! That's right!" Naruto grinned. "Sasuke's match is next!!"

"Eh, I don't give a shit about Sasuke," I waved my hand.

The crowd started to get anxious. People started to shout out, asking where Sasuke was. The Procter looked at the arena door, then at Lord Hokage, who was sitting next to Lord Kazekage. The man from before appeared behind the Procter, muttered something, and vanished. The Procter pulled out a hand watch that read ten-to-two.

"Man, I swear, if he doesn't show, I'll kill him!" Naruto threatened. "I swear I'll kill him!"

I gave him a glare to shut up, but unfortunately, it worked only for a couple of minutes.

Temari jumped back up to the waiting area with her two brothers. Naruto started to blab on and on again, which made me roll my eyes. Angel grunted.

_You sure he is going to show up?_

I nodded.

Shikamaru glanced at the arena door.

"What's he thinking?" Naruto paced back and forth. "I bet he's planning some _big_ entrance or something!"

"Alright!" the Procter said. "The time limit has expired! So, I'm officially calling this match..."

Suddenly, there was a whirlwind of dust and leaves. Two figures appeared. One was a young man with a spiky, silver hair and wearing a blue scarf that covered most of his face except his right eye. A Hidden Leaf Village headband covered his left eye. The other figure was a boy about the age of twelve with black hair that went down to his neck. He wore a dark brown gi and had dark black eyes.

_Kakashi and Sasuke, _I thought without any surprise.

"Sorry, we're late," Kakashi smiled, or so I thought. "You wouldn't believe the traffic."

"And you are?" the Procter asked Sasuke.

"I'm Sasuke Uchiha," Sasuke replied.

The crowd let out a great shout of approval.

"Heh, looks like you decided to show up," Naruto smirked.

"Did you win?" Sasuke asked.

"You bet!"

"Heh, well don't get too confident. You're still a loser."

"Sorry that you were waiting," Kakashi put his hand behind his head. "Uh, how late are we? Sasuke's not disqualified, right?"

We all looked at the Procter.

"You know, you were so late, that we set a deadline for you, twice in fact. And it's lucky for you we did, because you just made it...No, he's not disqualified."

"Oh, good, you had me worried there for a minute."

Kakashi noticed Sasuke glaring at Gaara. He then glanced at me, and disappeared, leaving only me, Shikamaru, and Naruto left.

"Alright, Gaara, come down here!" the Procter shouted.

"Come on, Naruto and Madeline," Shikamaru said. "They don't need us here. Let's go, and I'm going to take the stairs this time if you don't mind."

"Come on, are you still upset that I gave you a little push?" Naruto followed him. "You probably would've forfeited without us! ……Well, at least a little earlier. You should thank us!"

"Oh, yeah?" Shikamaru asked, as we started walking up the stairs. "Thank you for what? The only thing that happened was that my chakra was completely drained. Otherwise, I wouldn't be wounded, sweaty, and tired."

"Eh, get used to it," I waved my hand at him. "Once you accept the fact that life isn't exactly a piñata party, you'll be able to move on easier. I know mine isn't."

"Will you guys hurry up?" Naruto was five steps ahead of us.

"Relax, Naruto," Shikamaru groaned. "You're going to give yourself an ulcer."

"Seriously," I laughed.

Naruto stopped the step he was standing on and looked from behind the rail that was above our heads. We could see the hallway that lead to the waiting area. Shikamaru and I stopped and followed Naruto's gaze. Two Grass ninja were leaning up against the walls as Gaara approached.

"You kids think this tournament is about you," one of the ninja said. "But it's really about the people who _bet_ on you. See our master has a lot of money on the _other_ guy to win."

"That means _you_ gotta lose," the other said.

Gaara didn't say anything, but I managed to spot the cork on Gaara's jar move a little. His then eyes opened and became bloodshot and an evil grin spread across his face. The first Grass ninja smirked and pulled out a Kunai Knife. Suddenly, Gaara's sand exploded out of the jar and swirled through the air, making the light bulbs above shatter. The sand rushed and washed over the first ninja. It dragged him back and covered his body. He screamed, but it quickly faded. I heard a cracking noise as the sand collapsed and started to charge at the second ninja.

The second ninja gave a cry of fright and sprinted towards the stairs. The sand grabbed him by the ankle and dragged him into the dark hallway. His shriek soon faded. We all froze as Gaara's footsteps echoed through the hall. He appeared, walked around the case, and made his way down the stairs. I realized I was holding my breath, so I exhaled. We sat down on the stairs.

"That was too close," Shikamaru whispered. "I've never in my life seen anyone kill like that without even batting an eye."

There was an awkward silence.

"Hey, guys. Do you remember what Gaara said?" Shikamaru said, breaking the silence.

Naruto's eyes widened and I nodded.

"I do... 'All the same, I will kill you. Just you wait. I'll kill you all.' That's what he said……but then he didn't do it……"

Silence wafted through the air.

"Well, I'm going up to the stands since I'm out of the competition," I stood up. "See ya guys later, I guess."

I walked up the rest of the stairs and walked down the hallway that led to the stands. I came to the benches and looked around.

"No empty seats," I muttered. "Crap. I'll just have to stand here and watch."

I went down a couple of steps before stopping. There were only two steps left before I came up to the railing.

"Maddie!" came a familiar voice. "Over here!"

I looked around before I spotted Ten-Ten and Lilian waving to me. They were sitting at the end of a row almost right in front of me. I nearly slapped myself for being so blind. I waved back and sat down next to them.

"You didn't tell me you were in the Chuunin Exam!" Ten-Ten said.

"I didn't even know," I replied. "I don't even know how it happened! So don't ask me!"

Lilian didn't say anything at all.

"Madeline? Is that you?" another voice came.

Ten-Ten, Lilian, and I turned. Guy sensei and Rock Lee were standing behind us. Lee's left leg was in a white cast. His left arm was also encased in a cast and it clutched a crutch.

"Oh, hey Gai sensei, Lee," I gave them a practice smile. "Uh, how long have you guys been here, watching?"

"Since it started," Lee replied. "Great job on your battle by the way."

"Oh, um, thanks...I guess."

"So, you're Madeline, huh?" a voice said.

I switched my gaze to a young man with spiky silver hair, who was standing behind Gai. He wore a green Jounin vest, a blue long sleeved shirt, and blue pants. His Hidden Leaf Village headband covered his left eye and a blue mask covered his nose and mouth.

_It's Kakashi, _I thought. _I'll have to make it sound like I don't know him._

"Uh, yeah. That's me. I'm sorry, but I don't think I've met you."

"You don't need to play dumb with me. Gai and Lee told me all about your little problem. I also know your friend, Lilian. I spoke to Kurenai earlier. I'm guessing you don't need me to introduce myself."

"They did, did they?" I sweatdropped. "What else did they tell you? ……Ok, then. I guess I don't need to tell you anything then."

Angel jumped off my hood and hopped into Kakashi's arms.

Lilian stood up, blushing slightly, "I'm Lilian."

Kakashi shook her hand and lifted Angel from underneath her two forearms. She licked his scarf-covered nose and cheeks. Kakashi had Angel rest in his arms as he stroked her fluffy, white fur.

"I've also heard that you two are looking for a squad to join."

"Oh…yeah. We are."

"I know this Jounin that could easily help you with your training. Would you like to meet him? He doesn't have a squad at the moment…although, he is for more advanced shinobi.

"How about this: I'll have you be Iruka's students until you know the basic techniques. I'll then have you take the test with one more graduate who isn't on a squad, otherwise, that would be considered cheating. I'll inform you when I have time and when I get another graduate. I'll also help you control your chakra since you aren't very good at it, at least what I've heard. After all that is done, we'll get you this Jounin who'll hopefully become your sensei. Deal?"

Lilian and I looked at each other.

"Cool," Lilian blushed again. "Thanks."

"Sure," I shrugged.

I wasn't very excited, 'cause I would prefer Kakashi as my sensei, but oh well. Maybe I could talk him into it.

I could tell that Kakashi was smiling, even though I couldn't see it. He then gave Angel back to me. She sat in her usual place. I smiled and started to watch the match.

**Ugh…Sasuke makes his first appearance. I should've just left him out, but I know you fangirls would be pissed off, so I was nice.**


	9. Sand, Sound, and Leaf

Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto or any of the brand names I mention in this story

**Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto or any of the brand names I mention in this story. I also don't own any of the music lyrics that appear.**

Chapter 9

Sand, Sound, and Leaf

Gaara had already climbed down the rest of the stairs and was standing in front of Sasuke while the Procter explained what he had told us earlier. Gaara smirked and snickered evilly, making Sasuke raise an eyebrow at him. The crowd let out a little cheer that quickly settled.

"Kakashi," Gai said. "I'm going to be carefully watching Sasuke to see if your training was any good."

He flashed Kakashi his good-guy smile.

"AHHHHH!!" Lilian and I shielded our eyes. "IT BURNS!! MAKE IT STOP!!"

"Hm?" Kakashi switched his gaze to Gai. "Sorry, did you say something?"

Gai sweatdropped.

The Procter motioned the two to the middle. Sasuke adjusted his neck and moved forward.

"Begin!" the Procter jumped back.

Sand started to rise out of Gaara's jar, making Sasuke to jumpe back a couple of feet. Suddenly, Gaara brought his hand up to his head and moaned.

"Please..." he grunted. "I beg you...don't get so mad at me...mother...earlier I...I know...I know I made you taste such awful blood...I'm so sorry...but this time, I'm sure...that it'll taste so very good..."

Gaara groaned and his sand dropped to the ground. He panted a little bit before calming down and giving Sasuke that blank stare. The sand then rose up to Gaara's waist, but stayed at least three feet away from him.

Sasuke muttered something, grabbed two Shuriken, and threw them at Gaara. The sand came up, changed into a sand clone of Gaara, and caught the small weapons.

_That's what he did in my fight,_ I thought.

Sasuke ran at him and jumped up in the air to dodge a blast of sand the clone had just released. They both threw Shuriken at each other. Sasuke came down and kicked the clone's arms off. He then threw a punch at the clone's neck. Like me, Sasuke's fist got stuck, so he punched the clone with his other hand, disintegrating it.

Sasuke came to Gaara and put his fist in front of him, which made the sand rose up to protect its master again. Sasuke smirked and…disappeared. Everyone in the stands gasped, except for me, Lilian, and Kakashi. Sasuke reappeared behind Gaara's back and punched him in the face, sending him and his sand flying through the air. The sand ninja finally landed with a loud thud.

"So that's your sand armor, huh?" Sasuke asked.

Gaara glared at him while part of his cheek cracked.

"If you won't make I move, then I will!"

Sasuke charged at him, disappeared, and reappeared a couple of feet in front of Gaara, making the sand shoot up. Sasuke disappeared, reappeared on Gaara's side, and slid on the ground behind him. The sand rose and looped behind Gaara's back, but Sasuke ran past it to Gaara's front. He sprinted through an opening, kicked Gaara, and once again, the ninja was sent flying again.

"What's the matter, Gaara?" Sasuke asked. "Is that all you got?"

After the dust had cleared, Gaara rose back to his feet. Sasuke dashed towards Gaara and ran around him in a circle, dust rising. Gaara looked around, trying to keep up with his speedy opponent. Sasuke suddenly ran through the sand circle that Gaara was in, frontflipped, and kicked Gaara in the mouth. He then grabbed Gaara's straps that connected to the gourd on his back and kneed Gaara in the gut.

Sasuke jumped back and started to pant while Gaara held himself up with his arms and also gasped for air.

"What did you do in his training?" Gai asked Kakashi.

"Hm?" Kakashi looked at him.

"His level, it's incredible."

"Sasuke has copied Lee's Taijutsu with his Sharingan...so during the Taijutsu training, what I did with Sasuke, I simply had him imagine Lee's movement and copy it."

I turned around to look at Kakashi. Lilian didn't bother to turn, but she still listened. I looked back to arena and continued to watch the match. Gaara made a hand seal and the sand started to form a sphere around Gaara's body.

Sasuke sprinted towards the sphere and punched the small hole that only showed Gaara's left, unprotected eye. Suddenly, sand spikes shot out towards Sasuke. He stood there, panting, blood running down from his cheek and knee. His right hand twitched as the blood slithered down his knuckles.

"The sand has covered his entire body," Lee whispered. "Just like before."

I said nothing.

"KAKASHI SENSEI!!" came a loud shout.

We all turned around.

"Naruto," Lee smiled.

Naruto and Shikamaru appeared at the top of the stairs, panting.

"What is it, Naruto?" Kakashi asked.

"Sensei, please," Naruto said. "You just have to stop this match right away!"

"What?"

"The guy Sasuke is fighting is completely different than the rest of us! He's about as far from normal as you can get!"

"Naruto, hold on," a girl with blond hair said. "What are you saying?"

Her blond hair was in a small bun and a long piece of hair hung in her face. She was wearing an orange shirt and had light blue eyes.

_Ino, _I thought.

"He thinks his point in life is to kill people! That's why we almost died a couple of days ago!"

I flinched, not wanting to remember what had happened. Kakashi looked at me strangely.

"You gotta believe me! Even ask Madeline! She was there when he said it!"

Everyone stared at me. My eyes scanned their faces.

"What?" I asked. "Yes, I was there. Now stop looking at me!"

Kakashi looked at Naruto, then at the arena. A sand eye had formed high up in the air.

"Relax," Kakashi closed his right eye. "No one needs to panic."

I turned back to the arena. Sasuke was running at the rock-hard sand sphere and threw three Kunai Knifes at it, but they bounced off and landed to the ground with a clatter. He appeared above the sphere and hurled down to the ground. No good. Sasuke sprinted towards the sphere, dodged the spikes that came his way, and jumped up into the air. He kicked the top of the sphere a little and bounced off. Spikes appeared, then disappeared.

Sasuke put his arms up in front of his chest and crossed them, his fingers bent. He unbuttoned a black leather strap that crossed his left, cloth covered arm.

"Sensei," came a small voice.

I looked in the direction that it came from. A girl with pink hair that went down to her neck sat next to Ino. She wore a red kimono that touched her knees with green shorts. Her Hidden Leaf Village headband was tied up above her forehead.

_It's Sakura, _I thought. _She's okay, I guess..._

"Hm?" Kakashi looked towards her.

"Is there a reason why you were so late?" she asked.

"Hm, well, it's kind of a long story."

"Oh come on!" Naruto shouted. "Will you please do something?! This is no time for talking!!"

"You now, Naruto," Lilian shot him a death glare. "I've had it with your fucking loud mouth. Either keep it shut, or I'll come over there, and knock you out, so it'll stay shut."

I smirked at Lilian's threat.

"As I was saying," Kakashi continued. "Just keep track of Sasuke."

I switched my gaze back to the fight. Sasuke did a back handspring and slid up the entire wall of the arena. He crouched on the wall and started performing hand seals. He then put his left hand on the wall. Blue electric light started to emit from Sasuke's hand and crackle through the air.

"Now you know why I always insisted on training," Kakashi said.

Sasuke lifted the ball of electricity and started to tear down the wall.

"Oh, I see," Gai whispered. "You were building his speed up to the level required."

"Exactly," Kakashi smiled.

"Dah, who gives a shit?" I muttered. "He's gonna get owned anyway."

Everyone stared at me, except Lilian, who nodded in silent agreement.

"Ok…I get how there has to be a certain level for the jutsu," Lee said. "But why is the chakra visible?"

Sasuke landed on the ground, creating an explosion of dust and rocks. He ran through the dust, still holding the ball.

"What's that noise?" Lilian finally asked.

"And the type of technique?" Sakura added.

"It's a jab," Gai replied.

"What the hell is that?" I asked.

"But this jab is like no other jab," Gai continued. "It's the only weapon in Kakashi's arsenal he didn't copy from someone else. It's the weapon of choice for assassinations. The secret of the jab is the speed in which it is delivered, and the ninja's ability to focus his chakra on the point of impact. Once these two elements, speed and focus, obtained a certain level, the chakra actually becomes visible, and gives off the distinctive sound that you hear, like birds chirping. It is this sound that gives the technique its name, Chidori: One thousand birds."

Sasuke dodged the sand spikes that came his way and drove the ball of electricity into the sphere. Sand sprayed everywhere. Everyone gasped again, except for me, Lilian, and Kakashi.

"Also known as Lightning Blade," Gai grinned. "It's a pretty dangerous technique, not to be taught lightly."

"Yeah, you're the one to talk," Kakashi kneeled down to Lee's height. "Right, Lee?"

"Who cares?" I said.

"I've got you know," Sasuke said.

Suddenly, a bloodcurdling scream rang out through the air. A shiver traveled down my spine. Lilian flinched slightly, so small that only I noticed.

"BLOOD!!" Gaara shrieked. "IT'S MY BLOOD!!"

Sasuke's eyes widened and he tried to pull his left arm out. He screamed and blue electricity bounced around the sphere. He finally pulled it out. A long, spiky, sand arm gushed out of the sphere. My eyebrows rose slightly.

"Holy shit," Lilian muttered.

Sasuke jumped back and clutched his left arm. The sand arm was slowly dragged back into the sphere, leaving a small hole about the size of a fist. A deep growl suddenly came from inside the sphere. A bead of sweat traveled down my neck.

A roar erupted and shook the ground violently. The sphere started to crack, then it disintegrated, making Gaara appeared in the pile of sand. He wheezed and clutched his left shoulder. Blood oozed from the wound and dripped onto his hand.

I didn't know if I should feel sympathy for Gaara getting injured, or happy that he finally got a taste of his own medicine. Suddenly, feathers started falling and covered my vision.

"Why are feathers falling?" I asked aloud.

"I don't know," Lilian yawned. "Man, I'm tired…"

She then closed her eyes and fell asleep right then and there. I poked one and it disintegrated. Shrugging, I looked up at the tower where Lord Hokage and Lord Kazekage were sitting. An explosion had just erupted and a cloud of dust rose towards the blue sky. Kakashi, Gai, and Sasuke whipped around from the sound.

"Lord Hokage!" Gai cried.

Four ANBU Black Opps jumped across the stands and onto the roof where the smoke was rising.

Temari and Kankurou jumped down from the waiting area and to the arena. I quickly glanced up at the roof where the smoke was. Two sand ninja emerged and pulled out a Kunai Knife.

An ANBU Black Opp wearing a white robe sliced the two ninja with two Kunai Knives. Lord Kazekage jumped out of the smoke with Lord Hokage against his chest. In Lord Kazekage's left hand was a Kunai Knife that he held against Lord Hokage's throat. He then landed on the top of the tower's roof.

Suddenly, four figures flew out of the sand ninja's dead bodies and each landed on one of the four corners of the roof. There were three males and one female. One of the males had six arms, another two heads, and the last was pretty fat. The girl had red hair that hung in her face. They each wore a cream robe tied with a giant purple rope.

All four of the ANBU jumped towards the top of the roof.

"Ninja Art: Four Flames Formation!" the four sound ninja shouted.

A purple barrier appeared. One of the ANBU Black Opps crashed into it, caught on fire, and rolled off the roof.

"It's a barrier," I muttered.

Kakashi and Guy started to walk down the stairs. An ANBU jumped in front of them.

"Why are you here?" Gai asked. "Lord Hokage is in danger!"

The ANBU made a hand seal. Four sound ninja looking exactly the same jumped from the stands and stood on either side of the ANBU.

_We all know it's Kabuto under that mask,_ I thought.

"An enemy masked as ANBU Black Opps," Gai said, as if he heard my thoughts. "So, he was the one using the Genjutsu."

"Exactly," Kakashi said.

I looked from Kakashi and Gai to the sound ninja. I then glanced back up at the roof. (A/N: Note, I can't actually hear the conversation between Lord Kazekage and Lord Hokage. There's just some information that I need the reader to know.)

"The little treaty between the two villages was only brought up to let down your guard," Lord Kazekage explained. "From this point on, the course of history will change."

"Are you going to start a war then? Is that what you're saying?"

"Exactly," Lord Kazekage's eyes narrowed.

"There's still time for you to reconsider if we solve this problem with negotiation."

"Heh heh heh heh heh, I guess when you grow old, you become frightened more easily. What do you say, Sarutobi sensei?"

My face remained blank as I switched my gaze to the field.

"What the heck is going on?" Sasuke demanded.

"I must kill him!" Gaara shouted.

I looked at him.

"There's no point in going on with this fight!" Kankurou ran in front of him.

"That's right!" Temari agreed. "Don't forget what we have to do!"

A tall man wearing a green vest and brown pants jumped in front of them. He had a white veil covering half of his face and wore a Sand Village forehead protector.

"What are you three doing now?" he growled. "The mission has already started!"

Gaara gripped his head and groaned. The Procter appeared next to Sasuke, who was still kneeling. Gaara fell to his knees.

"What's wrong?" Kankurou asked.

"His chakra is practically used up and his wound is horrible," Temari kneeled by him.

"Why can't he use..."

"It's impossible right now."

"What do we do now?" Kankurou asked.

"We need Gaara to carry out this mission. You two take him and tend to his wounds until his chakra is restored. Then we'll continue."

"Got it," Kankurou slung Gaara's arm around his shoulder.

"While you're doing that, I'll be taking care of these guys."

"Your plan will never work," the Procter sneered.

"I'll make sure it does."

There was a moment of silence while they all stared at each other.

"Go!" the man suddenly shouted.

Temari and Kankurou jumped over the arena's wall and disappeared.

"Is the leader, Orochimaru?" the Procter asked.

"Who cares? Let's get this party started then."

The Procter told Sasuke to go after Gaara. As he was told, Sasuke got up and ran across the field. The man tried to stop him by throwing Kunai Knives at him, but the Procter threw two Kunai Knives to deflect the others. Sasuke jumped up to the wall and disappeared from my sight.

I frowned and turned back to the roof.

"Well," Lord Kazekage said. "We were planning on capturing Sasuke while Gaara was here, but things can't go according to plan. No matter, we still have the chance of capturing the girls."

I could barely hear him, so I paid no attention to what anyone was saying.

"I see. So, the Hidden Leaf Village, Sasuke, Maddie, and her friend, were your targets, right?"

"Huh, the Leaf Village is useless! I was just aiming for Sasuke. Finding the girls was just a lucky bonus."

"Why are you after them?"

"Well, I assume you've heard of the legend of the three tailed beasts?"

"You don't mean…"

"Yes. I intend on stopping them before they know what they have to do. Then, I'll use their extreme power to start that war I mentioned earlier."

"Didn't I teach you that nothing is decided until the end?"

Lord Kazekage paused, then brought his left hand up to his face. His flesh ripped and pulled apart. A white face and yellow eyes with slits replaced the old face. Long, black hair hung in the eyes.

"Orochimaru," Lord Hokage muttered.

My heart started to beat slightly faster.

"I knew this day would arrive."

"You should've picked the Fifth Hokage by now," Orochimaru said. "But now, you're going to die."

His long tongue licked the Kunai Knife. I raised an eyebrow and turned my attention elsewhere.

Sakura stood up. Suddenly, two of the four sound ninja jumped into the air with Kunai Knives. Sakura ducked and covered her head. There was a loud _clang! _The two ninja fell to the ground with a thud. Kakashi was standing over Sakura with two Kunai Knives. I didn't hear what he said to her, I was too busy watching Orochimaru and the other Sound ninja flying over my head.

Two Hidden Leaf ninja jumped into the air and clashed with the other sound ninja. Rings and clangs rang through the air every couple of seconds. Gai punched one in the face and let out a gay karate battle cry while Kakashi dodged other sound ninja's slashes and kicked them to the side. Gai and Kakashi put their backs up against each other for a couple of seconds, analyzed how many more enemies were coming, and then continued with their work.

I watched them fight for a few more minutes before getting bored again. So, I looked back up to the roof. Orochimaru was snickering evilly. Lord Hokage glanced up at him. Tears started to form in Orochimaru's eyes.

Orochimaru then brought up the Kunai Knife. I saw the flash of blood and squinted. The knife's tip was lodged into Orochimaru's white hand; making ruby red blood flowed down his palm. He let the Kunai Knife hang from his hand as he brought his left hand up to his mouth.

"I was so tired," he yawned, rubbing his eyes. "I'm wide awake now."

"Uh-huh," Lord Hokage played along.

Orochimaru finally let go of Lord Hokage and started to walk away.

"I guess you don't have a goal or a motive," Lord Hokage continued.

"Huh," Orochimaru sighed. "I guess...well...I guess I do kind of have a goal. Let me see if I can explain it. I find it very interesting to watch things motion. I get no pleasure when the world is still, like a windmill that isn't turning. Huh, I suppose some might find if beautiful, even if it's a mobile, but to me, such a thing is truly boring. So now, I want to put things in motion myself. The first step is crushing the Leaf Village."

He had taken off the blue hat and thrown it aside, still letting the Kunai Knife dangle from his hand.

"Hm, I see you haven't changed at all," Lord Hokage smirked.

Clangs continued to be heard as the battle all around me proceeded. I glanced over at Lilian, who was still sleeping peacefully. Kakashi jumped in front of Sakura, who was still ducking and covering her head.

"Sakura," he said, rolling the 'r' in her name.

She looked up.

"Release the Genjutsu and wake Naruto and Shikamaru."

Sakura glanced back at Naruto and Shikamaru, who were fast asleep. A little drool oozed from Naruto's parted lips.

"What are we going to do?" Sakura asked.

"You're going on an A-ranked assignment. Be careful. Take Madeline with you, too."

A ninja charged at him. Kakashi brought his fist up against the back of the sound ninja's head, forcing him to fly backwards. Sakura ducked.

"Who?"

"Madeline. Take her with you. She'll introduce herself later. She needs to come with you."

"But why send us on some mission?" she asked.

"Sasuke's chasing Gaara and the other sand ninja," Kakashi explained, starting to perform hand seals.

"Summoning Jutsu!"

He placed his two hands on an unconscious person's back. There was a cloud of smoke and when it cleared, a small, light brown pug sat. He wore a blue cape and had a Hidden Leaf Village headband tied above his head.

"Pakkun will help you track down Sasuke by scent."

The small pug rubbed his eyes.

"Our leader is a small puppy? You must be kidding!"

Pakkun jumped up to become face to face with Sakura.

"All right, listen little girl," he growled. "Don't you dare going around saying I'm just some cute puppy."

I snickered at the rude remark.

"Ok, it's time," Kakashi said.

Sakura nodded and crawled up the stairs to Shikamaru and Naruto, Pakkun at her heels. I turned to face Kakashi.

"Kakashi-sensei," I said.

He glanced in my direction.

"Why do I have to go with them?" I asked, as if I were complaining to my mom about going to some soccer game. "I mean, I've never been on a mission, and you know that I don't know how to use my chakra."

"How come I can't come?" Lilian asked, finally saying something. Wait…WASN'T SHE ASLEEP?! Maybe someone released the Genjutsu on her, or she just woke up.

Kakashi looked down.

"You need to get away from here as far as possible," he finally said. "Lilian, if you go, you'll only be a distraction. Stay here. Orochimaru knows you're here, but he doesn't know where. Stay low."

Lilian pouted and crossed her arms.

"Why?" I groaned.

Since he was basically in front of me, he was able to put his hand on my shoulder and look in my eyes.

"Orochimaru is after you."

"Well, obviously. But, why? Why does he want me?"

"I...I don't know..."

I stared into his right eye before looking away and staring at my feet.

"He's after Lilian too," I muttered, more to my feet than him.

"She'll be fine here. Don't worry, nothing will happen to her."

I nodded and looked past him to see Sakura crawling over to Shikamaru. She paused and saw Shikamaru's closed eyes twitch a little.

Pakkun trotted over to Shikamaru's right shin and bit it with his razor sharp, pearl white, teeth. There was a moment of silence while Shikamaru just lay there.

"AHHHH!!" he finally screamed, his eyes blank circles.

He brought his leg up and down rapidly, Pakkun dangling.

"You released Genjutsu, too, you faker!" she snapped, pointing and her eyes becoming the same as Shikamaru's. "Why were you pretending to be asleep this whole time?!"

Shikamaru's eyes turned to normal as he grabbed Pakkun by the scruff of his neck.

"I didn't want to get involved," he replied, stretching Pakkun's mouth apart and pulled his cheek.

Pakkun growled and bit Shikamaru's hand. Shikamaru yelled in pain and flung his arm up into the air. Naruto got up and looked around. A sound ninja came from behind him and brought up a Kunai Knife.

"Look out!" Sakura screamed.

He suddenly was pushed into the wall. A cloud of rocks and dust exploded through the air.

The dust cleared, revealing Guy punching the ninja's gut. He pushed the ninja through the wall, creating a huge hole. I ran up the stairs to them.

Kakashi jumped in front of us.

"Track down Sasuke and wait for further orders," he said.

"Did something happen to Sasuke?" Naruto asked.

"We'll explain on the way," I groaned.

Naruto turned to me.

"Are you coming, Madeline?" he asked.

"I guess so," I sighed.

He continued to stare at me.

"Okay, stop with the staring, Naruto. What's wrong?"

"What's your eye color?"

"It's basically an olive green color, almost a... Dammit, before I bore you the hell to sleep, why?"

"Just wondering."

I raised an eyebrow at him.

"You need to get out of here, now," Kakashi said firmly.

"Why is Naruto wondering..." I started.

"NOW!"

I stared at him. Since I'm so used to yelling at home, I just ignore it wherever I go. When someone screams at me, I just look at them blankly. It's a great strategy that bugs the hell out of everyone because I don't back down when I'm getting scolded. I've become quite a professional at it.

"But I don't even now how to jump from tree branch to tree branch," I muttered.

Kakashi sighed, "I forgot. Shikamaru, teach Madeline to jump from tree branch to tree branch before you guys head out."

"Yes, sensei," he replied.

Angel growled.

_Well, this should turn out fabulously, shouldn't it? _

"You could say that again," I muttered to her.

Sakura grabbed Naruto and jumped out of the hole.

Pakkun put Shikamaru's hand in his mouth and jumped out of the hole. I shrugged, waved to Lilian, and followed them.

**Well, there you have it! I'm sent off on the mission for my own protection while Lilian has to stay behind. What'll happen next? Keep reading to find out!**


	10. On the Run

**Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto or any of the brand names I mention in this story. I also don't own any of the music lyrics that appear.**

Chapter 10

On the Run

"Let's try to get this over with," Pakkun joined us. "We don't have time to learn new techniques."

"It's okay," I shook my head. "You guys go on ahead. When I get it, we'll catch up with you."

"How will you know where we are?" Sakura asked.

Angel barked.

_Let me get Pakkun's scent and I'll be able to pick it up later._

Pakkun nodded and he and Angel sniffed each other. Shikamaru, Angel, and I watched the three jump into the trees and disappear.

"Okay," Shikamaru sighed. "To jump from branch to branch, you need to gather stamina in your feet and release it in a burst when your foot touches the branch. Think you can give it a shot before they get too far ahead?"

I nodded, but just stood there. Finally, I figured something out that might work. I closed my eyes and focused all of my energy to my feet. I felt a tingling sensation, opened my eyes, and looked at Shikamaru.

"That's it," he nodded. "Now just do that when you jump off from a tree branch."

I tried what he said, but tripped and fell to the ground. Groaning, I got up and tried again…and again and again and again and again. I finally managed to get the hang of it after almost an hour later, and Shikamaru made me go as fast as ever. We finally caught up to the others about twenty minutes later.

We jumped onto the lush, green, tree branches and leapt from branch to branch. Pakkun was in the front, sniffing, I was right behind him, followed by Naruto and Sakura, and Shikamaru who brought up the rear. I had to harness the stamina in my feet to jump high and far to the next branch. Sakura had just finished explaining what had happened and Shikamaru and Naruto had just finished introducing me.

We jumped to the ground and started running.

"This is such a drag," Shikamaru groaned. "Why did you have drag me into this?"

I was about to tell him to shut up, but Pakkun jumped to the right, and we had to follow him. We leaped into the air and started jumping from branch to branch. Once in a while Pakkun would sniff and lead us in a different direction.

"How much longer?" I finally asked.

"Depends," Pakkun said.

I groaned. Patience is something I usually have, but not an attention span.

Pakkun sniffed.

"Come on you guys!" he shouted. "Hurry it up! Some ninja are right behind us!"

"You've got to be kidding," Shikamaru groaned.

We finally jumped down from the branches and touched the ground. Pakkun stopped and stared at the dirt. We stood behind him.

"What's the deal now?!" Naruto cried. "Why are we stopping?"

I glared at him.

"Just zip it and follow me," Pakkun growled.

He put his paws on his tracks and started moving backwards.

"We're going to make our footprints disappear."

He backflipped up into the air and landed on a tree branch. I groaned, found my footprints, and started walking backwards.

"Is this going to help at all?" Naruto asked.

I jumped backwards and landed next to Pakkun. Shikamaru and Sakura followed.

"You don't understand, do you?" I sighed. "It's called distracting the enemy and buying time."

"Exactly," Pakkun agreed.

"Hurry up!" Sakura shouted.

Naruto turned and looked up at us. We jumped off the branch and started the same process of leaping from branch to branch.

"Great," Pakkun said sarcastically after about 15 minutes. "Those nine ninja are going to attack us."

Sakura's eyes widened.

"We're going to have to ambush them," she said.

I rolled my eyes at her stupidity.

"Those ninja that are chasing us are Orochimaru's henchmen," Pakkun finished for me. My guess is, they're all Jounin level."

"Man, I thought that would work," Shikamaru muttered to himself.

"Why won't it work?" Naruto said.

"You guys just don't get it, except for Madeline. Let me explain. An ambush could only work under two conditions."

"Well, what are they?" Naruto asked.

"Number one: the ninja on the run must be completely quiet and…"

"Like that'll ever happen," I muttered sarcastically.

"And must find the enemy first," Shikamaru continued, ignoring my remark. "The second one is the ones being pursued have to damage the enemy quickly and disappear.

"The first one should be easy because Pakkun can sniff out the enemy. We also know our village's geography very well. However, Orochimaru is a former Leaf ninja, so on the second one, we're out of luck."

"We are?" Naruto asked. "Wait, tell me why that is, again."

"The ninja that are following us probably have studied this entire village. Also, they're probably masters of the Pursue Jutsu."

"So, they know all the cards we're holding?" Sakura restated.

"Well, I don't really know," Shikamaru sighed. "I suppose an ambush _could_ give us an advantage, but so many things are uncertain. Besides, our enemy is a special unit that was specifically put together for this operation, and what are the five of us? A fool, a Kunoichi with no particular talent, a girl from another dimension who doesn't even _know_ how to control chakra, a mutt, and me, the shirker who doesn't even want to be here."

We all glared at Shikamaru.

"Look," he continued. "Tactics are about clearly grasping a tough situation and formulating the best plan, and right now, only one plan makes sense, just one."

"And that is?" Sakura asked.

"You don't even know?" I snickered. "My God, you're stupid."

An anger vein appeared on Sakura's forehead. I stared calmly right back at her.

"A diversion that only looks like it's an ambush," Shikamaru finally said. "So, one of us, is gonna stay behind, and slow them down."

"One of us will be a decoy," I said, proud that I understood what Shikamaru was talking about while the others did not.

"That's right. If one of us can delay them, they shouldn't be able to find the rest of us; we'll be able to escape. Of course, the one who acts as a decoy will probably...die."

I stopped and landed on a tree branch. The others landed on a branch behind me, so that our backs were in a circle. We stood there, thinking. Birds' chirps rang out through the silent air. The emerald leaves rustled as a slight breeze whisked by and bit my skin.

"So, who's going to do it?" Shikamaru finally asked.

We said nothing.

"Angel isn't trained to track people yet so we need the dog to follow Sasuke since he's the only one who has the scent, so that means..."

I balled my hands into fists.

"I guess I'm gonna..." I started.

"I'm the only one who can do it," Shikamaru interrupted.

"Shikamaru!" Sakura gasped.

"Why does it have to be you?" Naruto asked.

"It's better than all of us going, right? Besides, I'm the only one who has a chance of pulling this off."

Shikamaru flipped over our heads and landed on a tree branch in front of us.

"And surviving the attack," he continued. "I mean after all, Shadow Possession Jutsu was invented as a delay tactic."

"No, Shikamaru," I said, shaking my head. "Let me go! You guys don't need me. I'm just slowing you down."

He turned his head, looked at me, and then turned it away.

"You need to find a way to get back to your own world, Madeline. Orochimaru's henchmen are mostly after you. If they catch you, they'll take you back to Orochimaru and who knows what he'll do to you. You don't realize it, but we'll need you more than ever later."

"Wait…What?"

"I'll catch up with you later. Go on, get going."

Naruto nodded.

"We're counting on you Shikamaru!" he yelled.

Shikamaru raised his right hand as a wave. I bit my lip and gave him a worried look while Angel jumped over to his branch and looked at him with pleading eyes. Shikamaru glanced at her, and she whimpered. He picked her up.

"I have to," I heard him whisper to her. "I'm the only one that knows what to do."

Shikamaru then turned around, jumped in front of me, and plopped Angel into my arms.

"Go," he said firmly. "Don't worry about me. I'll be fine."

I didn't want to meet his eyes, so I kept them down.

"Why does all the shit always happen to me?" I mumbled.

"You aren't the only one," Shikamaru sighed. "Now just go."

I looked up and, for once, my stubborn attitude gave up, nodded.

"C'mon," Naruto grabbed my arm.

Sighing, I jumped off the branch. Why wasn't anyone telling me what was going on? Do they all know something that I don't? I sighed again, turned around, and managed a glance back at Shikamaru. He stood there until he was a tiny dot in my vision.

"Listen," Pakkun said. "The ninja are coming up fast."

"But we've only been up here for like twenty minutes," I groaned.

"I wonder if he's even trying."

"No…Shikamaru…" Sakura muttered. "He better not have run away."

"Shikamaru will be just fine," Naruto assured. "Got it?"

"How do you know?"

"He's lazy and he's always complaining about everything, but he would _never_ betray us."

Sakura stayed silent.

"I know he hardly volunteers to do anything himself," Naruto continued. "But if he says he's gonna do it, then he'll do it, and that's for sure."

"Pick up the pace, slackers!" Pakkun growled.

Naruto jumped ahead of the group. It stayed like this for another five minutes.

"Huh, looks like those ninja aren't chasing us anymore," Pakkun said.

"Awesome!" Naruto cried. "Shikamaru succeeded! The delay tactic, it worked!"

"Sweet," I smiled.

"What was that?" Sakura dropped to a lower branch.

Naruto and I leapt to the branch and listened. A faint boom rumbled in the dense forest.

"Trip wire traps," Pakkun landed on top of Naruto's head. "They're certainly not making it easy for Sasuke to follow them."

Giant, gray clouds had covered the sun, darkening the sky and forest. The trees had turned a dark green and the leaves almost a peacock feather color.

"Sasuke, do you think...?" Sakura asked. "Sasuke…"

"Don't worry about Sasuke," Naruto said. "He'll be fine."

Angel yawned.

_How much further? I'm bored, I'm tired, and I gotta go to the bathroom._

"Which one?" I groaned.

_Number one...and number two._

Before there was an accident, I hurriedly jumped down to the ground and Angel hopped off. She trotted over to a bush, disappeared for a couple of minutes, and then bounced back up to my shoulder. Sakura, Naruto, and Pakkun stared at me.

"Uh, she had to pee and do her job," I smirked, putting a hand behind my head.

Sakura made a face and we continued our chase.

**Haha! How was that one? I love bugging Sakura about her girlyness. If I offended any of you who are girly-girls, I'm sorry. XD**


	11. Catching Up With Sasuke

**Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto or any of the brand names I mention in this story. I also don't own any of the music lyrics that appear.**

Chapter 11

Catching Up with Sasuke

The clouds finally moved out of the way of the sun and it's light streamed in through the leaves once more. The sunlight made everything look like a fuzzy, emerald scene.

"I sense that Sasuke has stopped moving," Pakkun called from ahead of us. "But he's still a long way ahead of us."

"Great," I said sarcastically.

"Did I just smell what I think I smelled?"

Pakkun suddenly stopped on a long, sturdy, branch. I landed next to him and Naruto stepped on the other side of him.

"What is it?" Naruto asked. "What's wrong? Do you smell an enemy or something?"

"This better be good for having to stop us," I sighed.

"Strange I never noticed it before," Pakkun muttered. "Sakura, did you know you used the same shampoo as I do?"

Sakura's mouth dropped open and her whole body went white.

"Minty, rainforest mist, right? With extra body?"

"Are you kidding me?!" Naruto screamed.

"But, I wonder why my coat is so much glossier than yours...Hm? Madeline? Do you also use it too? My, it must take you a long time to wash your hair if you use two shampoos and conditioner. Minty, rainforest mist, creamy, cool, coconut, and lovely, lavender breeze, right?"

"Who gives a damn about that," my right eyelid twitched. "For all I give a shit, it doesn't matter what the hell I use as my hair care products. That's what preps are supposed to be worried about, not an asshole like me."

"Sorry, just making an observation."

"I smell like a dog, I smell like a dog," Sakura murmured.

She started slowly jumping from branch to branch.

"Look what you've done!" Naruto exclaimed. "Sakura, get back here!"

We all chased Sakura and calmed her down. I slapped her in the face…hard. It was one of those moments that made the _SMACK!_ echo. I did it again and again and again until she finally returned to reality and glared at me.

"Well, whatdaya know," I smirked, staring at the red marks from my hand on her cheeks. "The Sasuke-obsessed bitch has finally recovered from her fashion emergency. Get a grip, will you? It's not like some random dude is going to come up to you and smell your hair."

Her glare was nothing to the stare I was dishing out. Yes, it was then officially a stare-down. The bitch that looked away first lost.

She looked away a couple minutes later. Ha! I win! What now?!

We then continued on our way.

"There it is," Pakkun sniffed ten minutes later.

"Oh, what, someone's shampoo?" Naruto growled.

"No, I smell Sasuke…He's caught up to them, the three Sand siblings."

Naruto and I looked at each other.

"They've all stopped moving," Pakkun continued. "We should hurry. It could mean a fight."

"But, what about...?" I asked.

"What about what?" Sakura turned her head to me while leaping.

"Nothing."

"Smells like we're not the only one tracking Sasuke," Pakkun suddenly said. "There's something else out there!"

"Really, where?" Naruto asked.

"Who is it?" Sakura questioned. "Friend or foe?"

"I don't know, but..."

"But…?" I asked.

"It isn't human," Pakkun replied gravely.

Angel growled.

_Do you know who they are?_

"I probably do," I whispered back to her. "But if I do, than I forgot. I've only seen the episodes up to one hundred sixty five or something. Whatever happens after that will all be new to me…Sort of."

"Uh, oh," Pakkun landed on a tree branch.

Sakura and I landed next to him, but Naruto kept jumping ahead.

"What's wrong?" he asked before hitting a tree trunk.

Naruto's torso lifted back, but his feet stayed attached to the trunk.

"What the hell?!" he waved his arms wildly. "Why did you guys stop??"

I rolled my eyes and shook my head.

"They're in motion again," Pakkun replied plainly. "Sasuke along with two of the other ones and they're moving fast."

"You sure?" Sakura asked.

"Of course he's sure," I said before Pakkun could reply.

"But there are two more still there…not moving," Pakkun continued.

"So what?!" Naruto cried. "Who cares about them? We've got to catch up to Sasuke! Come on!"

"Those two are probably about to fight, considering the fact that they were left behind."

"Nice," I grinned.

They all looked at me strangely, except Naruto, who grinned back.

"Oh, I mean, too bad."

"Even if it means losing some time, we should go around them," Pakkun continued. "Just to be safe."

"Are you kidding me?" Naruto exclaimed. "We don't have time to go around them! Dammit, we don't even have time to lose time! How cares if they're fighting? We should just go right on ahead!"

"Oh give me a break, Naruto," Sakura growled. "Are you really that stupid? Who knows what will happen if we get caught in someone else's fight? That's what we don't have time for, no matter how much you and Maddie may enjoy it."

"Awwwww," I pouted. "Why not? I wanna see some action for once in my goddamn life!"

"Who says I'm gonna enjoy-"

"Listen kid," Pakkun interrupted. "Our mission is to bring Sasuke back. We should try to avoid any fighting if possible, let alone go out and look for it."

My stomach growled and I sweat dropped.

"Man, I haven't eaten since like 4:00 in the morning," I whined. "I'm starving...wait, I have an idea."

I reached into my pouch and pulled out a Skittles package. Angel started to bark. I ignored her and tore the package open.

"What's she saying?" Sakura asked Pakkun.

"She telling Madeline not to eat the candy," Pakkun replied.

"Why?" Naruto questioned.

"...Because she gets really hyper on a sugar rush if she's hungry."

"A what?" Naruto repeated.

"A sugar rush," Sakura explained. "It's a sudden burst of energy when you eat something sweet. It can last a couple minutes to a couple of hours depending on the person. However, after the extra energy has been worn off, the user gets extremely exhausted because their blood sugar gets really low and they've wasted too much energy."

"Madeline, don't do it!" Naruto shouted. "We might need you later!"

"Oh yeah? For what?" I shot back. "To fail and then sit on the sidelines like a useless child?! Maybe somehow taken as a hostage?! No way in hell! I'm going to eat what I want and when I want!"

"But Angel said that you can't!" Sakura protested.

"You know what?" I changed my voice so it was quiet and I gave a totally fake smile. "I've finally figured it out. You guys don't need me, you just say you do. You want me to believe that I'm important, but when in reality, I'm not. Am I right?"

Everyone stayed silent.

"But…" Sakura finally said.

"Oh, blah, blah, blah, your needs. What do you expect me to eat? Leaves? Bugs? Twigs? Yeah right. I don't care if I'm tired after, so that's that."

I took out a handful of Skittles and poured them into my mouth.

"Oh no," Pakkun put his paw over his eyes and dragged it down.

A smirk spread across my face as I swallowed the chewy candy. I jumped high into the air and emerged from the tree tops.

"WEEEEE!!" I screamed wildly.

"Come on!" Pakkun started to chase me.

Every ten meters I leapt off a branch. Angel growled.

_At this rate, we'll reach Sasuke in about ten minutes._

"Well, at least it gets us moving faster," Pakkun said from behind me.

"True," Sakura agreed.

"Hey!" Pakkun called out. "Stop for a minute!"

"Fine," I groaned.

I stopped on a tree branch, looked behind me, and started to tap my foot rapidly. Pakkun, Naruto, and Sakura landed on a branch above me a couple seconds later. They were all panting.

"You mean we stopped just for you guys to rest?!" I cried. "My God, you guys are slow."

Sakura glared at me and I glared back. Another stare down that lasted for about five minutes. Of course, I won again.

"Ok, you guys rested, now can we please move?"

"Wait!" Naruto shouted. "Come here and look at this!"

"What?" I groaned.

I jumped up to the branch he was standing on. Next to him was a body that lay collapsed. It was a boy the age of twelve. He had brown spiky hair and wore round, black sunglasses. The boy wore a baby blue jacket and light brown pants.

"It's Shino," I breathed. "He must've been one of the people who were fighting."

"Is he alive?" Sakura asked nervously.

I poked him with my foot. No reaction. I then kneeled and put my head to his chest. I heard a very faint thump.

"Barely," I replied.

"What the heck is that?" Sakura pointed to an object a couple feet away.

I got up and turned it over. It was a headless, wooden puppet with four arms and two legs. A black cloth was draped over its body.

"Oh," I said. "He and Kankurou must've fought."

"Okay, but what does the puppet have to do with it?" Naruto asked.

"Kankurou's a puppeteer, so he carries this puppet around with him. Almost in every joint is a knife or other weapon that injects poison."

"I don't see any blood," Sakura said, looking over Shino's body.

"That's because he probably breathed in the poison gas bomb that Kankurou's puppet can release."

"So, he's going to die?" Naruto rephrased.

I nodded, "Wait, do you guys have any medicine?"

"I do," Sakura handed me a small box.

I turned the medicine over in my hands. I was brown and had Japanese writing on the label. The writing suddenly turned into English words. It read _For Sore Throats, Stuffy Nose, Coughs, Fevers, and Poison. Take every two-three hours._ I took the cap off and poured some of the medicine into Shino's slightly parted lips.

"We don't have time for this," Pakkun protested. "We need to get moving!"

I ignored him, put two fingers to his neck, and felt his pulse. A normal, steady beat. I bent and rested my head on his chest.

"His heart is back to normal and he's breathing easier now," I got up. "He should be fine...for now."

I handed Sakura back her medicine.

"What is that supposed to mean?" Naruto demanded.

"It means that he'll only be fine for a little while," I replied.

"That's right," Pakkun agreed. "It says that you have to take this medicine every two-three hours. The medicine helps fight off the poison, but it doesn't get it out of the system. Hopefully, he'll be able to wake up and walk himself to a hospital before it's too late, or hopefully someone finds him and takes him to a hospital. The poison has to be drawn out of his body."

Naruto nodded, understanding the situation. I stared down at Shino's body for a long silent moment. An idea suddenly popped into my head.

"Wait, a minute," I said slowly. "If Shino is here, that probably means that Kankurou is around."

"So?" Sakura said.

"I don't know," I shrugged. "Just making a statement. Kankurou would never leave his puppet lying around on some branch. He's bound to be close. I'm going to see if he's around."

"Are you nuts?!" Pakkun screamed. "We don't have time!!"

I whipped around, gave him a glare, and jumped down to the ground. I looked around for a bit.

"Okay," I sighed. "Where are you? I know you're here."

I spotted something on the ground. My sandals made a scratching noise as I ran over to the object and turned it over. Kankurou puppet's three eyes rolled from the back of its head. Its mouth was wide open and its brown hair was matted.

"Hm," I made a thoughtful noise. "Why would this be detached from the body?"

Suddenly, the puppet head rose up and faced me. My eyes narrowed and they darted back and forth. I pulled out a Kunai Knife from my pouch on my thigh.

"Okay, come on out, Kankurou," I growled. "I know how you use your puppet. Chakra strings, right? Every part of your puppet's body is a lethal weapon, injecting poison into the body. However, you're so concentrated on focusing your chakra to the puppet, that you're too dumb to pay attention to your back or sides, leaving a huge hole in your defenses."

Angel growled.

_Man, what was that for?_

"Honestly, I don't really know," I whispered back to her. "I'm not thinking right. That's my pride talking."

_Well, you better not do it again, just in case if the enemy really does come out._

The head stay floating, but then fell to the dirt. Pakkun, Sakura, and Naruto jumped to the ground.

"Okay, let's get moving," Pakkun finally broke the silence.

"Right," I nodded. "Hang on."

I took the Kunai Knife I was holding, twirled my fingers in the circle of the knife a couple of times, and plunged it into puppet's face, making splinters explode in every direction. I then ate another handful of Skittles and my sugar rush continued.

**Ehehehe…yeah, when I eat sugar when I'm hungry, I get really hyper…You should see me the day after Halloween. XD**


	12. Gaara's True Form!

**Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto or any of the brand names I mention in this story. I also don't own any of the music lyrics that appear.**

Chapter 12

Gaara's True Form

"Come on!" I shouted over my shoulder. "Pick it up!"

Naruto jumped ahead, so he was the same pace as I was.

"What's that?" he asked randomly.

"Oh no," Sakura whispered.

"What?" I turned my head to face them.

CRASH! I hit a tree and slowly slid down to a branch.

"Ow!" I rubbed my head. "Naruto, I swear to God, I'm gonna…."

Naruto let out a battle cry and Sakura gasped.

"What?" I turned to the branch she was on.

Everything happened so fast that I didn't understand half of what was going on! Sakura was kneeling on a tree branch bellow me with Pakkun at her side. Sasuke was beneath her arms. He looked wounded to me, I wasn't sure, Sakura was in the way. Dumbass. Naruto had his feet planted on a branch and was glaring at Gaara.

Gaara looked like a deformed monster. His left side of his body was formed in a hard, spiky, sand arm. The right side of his face was hard sand and his ear was upright like a fox's. His eye was empty blackness with a small yellow bead with a black star in the middle. Drool oozed from his half-fang mouth and blue veins slithered across his hideous form. He smirked evilly at me. My heart skipped a beat and I flinched slightly.

"I guess when it comes to thinking, your sugar rush doesn't supply it," Sakura taunted.

"And what it comes to Sasuke, you don't give a shit about anything," I shot back.

Sasuke coughed horribly. I glanced at him. His right arm was cradling his neck. Half of his face and all of his arms were covered by weird, black markings. Angel sniffed and growled, showing her side teeth.

_I have a bad feeling about that chakra. It's powerful and has an evil stench floating around it._

My eyes narrowed as I glanced around and spotted Temari kneeling on a higher branch.

"S-Sakura," Naruto murmured so quietly that only I heard.

Sasuke slowly raised his head.

"What...what are you doing here?" he managed to say.

He screamed in pain and his fingers clutched the bark. Blood oozed from his clenched teeth and dripped off his chin.

"Sasuke, hold on," Sakura breathed.

"Hey, uh, Sakura," Naruto whispered again. "Earth to Sakura!"

"What do you want?!" Sakura yelled.

"This guy over here, who the heck is he?"

I slapped my hand to my face.

"I never knew you guys could be this stupid!" I groaned. "It's Gaara you fag!"

Naruto's eyes widened and he flinched. There was a moment's of silence.

"Hey, you two," Pakkun said to me and Sakura.

We both turned.

"I guess now would be the time to tell you that I'm not the fighting type," he said.

"I can tell that by looking at you!" Sakura yelled.

I groaned and put my hand over my eyes.

"This is some serious bull shit," I muttered.

Sasuke let out a louder moan and his breathing became shaky again. I glanced at him again. A small pool of blood had gathered on the branch as he tried to get up. His left hand was clenched and slightly shaking. He coughed harder this time and more blood flew out of his mouth.

"So, it's you two," Gaara growled, snapping me and Naruto to attention. "You're the ones I didn't kill that day."

Naruto flinched and started to tremble slightly. I looked at him weirdly.

"Guys!" Naruto screamed, turning to us. "Get up! We have to go now!"

Gaara leapt off his branch and started hurling towards Sasuke. I bit my tongue and could only watch helplessly.

"DIE SASUKE UCHIHA!!" Gaara screamed, putting his giant left arm in front of him.

For about ten seconds time seemed to have stopped. Where have I heard those words before? It then came to me. I had a sudden flashback of me and Noah playing Halo 3 on the Xbox 360. I kept saying 'DIE YOU LITTLE BASTARDS!!'

The flashback ended and I suddenly felt sorry for myself for screaming like that. This was real and that wasn't. I didn't need to yell like that for a stupid videogame.

Sakura suddenly jumped in front of Sasuke's weak body, with a determined look on her face and a Kunai Knife in her hands.

"YOU IDIOT!!" I screamed.

I felt my body move and knock Sakura to the side. Her body hit the trunk and she looked up.

"You have no idea who you're dealing with!" I glared at her. "You don't know what he's capable..."

"MOVE IT!" Gaara yelled.

The giant arm grabbed me and Sakura and pinned us up against a tree trunk. I clenched my teeth as my back hit the hard surface and something cracked. Pain shot through my whole torso. Angel yelped repeatedly.

"Angel," I groaned, looking over my shoulder.

I had totally forgotten about her. Sakura groaned and she fell into the unconscious state. I tried to wriggle my body out, but the claw wouldn't let me. Gaara glared at me before moaning and clutching his red hair. Naruto jumped down to the branch where Gaara was standing, grabbed Sasuke, and set him down on another branch further away.

"Guys!" he screamed.

"Those two must be out of their minds facing Gaara now," Temari said, loud enough for me to hear.

"Let go of me!" I growled, struggling.

"This is definitely not good," Naruto muttered. "What the heck do we do now?! What now?!"

Gaara squeezed his eyes shut.

He started breathing heavily. Naruto just stared at him blankly, but I knew better. I knew he was thinking of his tragic past. My heart softened and I stopped moving. I stared down at the ground and didn't say anything. Naruto noticed this and stared at me hard. I looked up and noticed him. Why does everyone stare at me seriously like that?

There was a long, terrible silence.

"What's the matter?" Gaara growled at Naruto, breaking the silence. "Weren't you about to make a run for it?"

Naruto's eyes narrowed.

"Sasuke," came a very faint voice.

Naruto and I looked at Sakura. She was still conscious after all, but not opening her eyes.

"Naruto," she said faintly. "Maddie."

Naruto glared back at Gaara.

"Who are these three?" Gaara asked. "Who are they to you?"

"Huh?" Naruto got up. "Who are they to me? They're my friends is who they are! You try so much as laying another finger on the three of them, and I will pulverize you!"

Gaara growled and squeezed his left arm. Pain shot through my whole body as it was squeezed like jelly. I clenched my teeth and closed my eyes. Sakura let out a yell. It sounded like our bones were being crushed, but they weren't, except for one of mine, which I guessed was a rib. Naruto bit his lip and Pakkun whimpered.

"What's the matter?" Gaara snarled. "Weren't you gonna pulverize me?"

Naruto glared at him, clenched his fists and jumped into the air.

"You're on!" he yelled.

I slowly closed my eyes.

_Gaara is acting like this because he's hurt. _I thought. _On the inside. I wish I could see what his childhood was like._

There was a flash of green light, which was strange because I had my eyes closed. I became very lightheaded and blacked out.

**Yeah…the next chapter is a little weird. It's just about me finding Gaara as a child and yeah. It's not that big of a deal to read. So you can skip to Chapter 14 if you want.**


	13. Gaara's Childhood

**Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto or any of the brand names I mention in this story. I also don't own any of the music lyrics that appear.**

Chapter 13

Gaara's Childhood

I groaned and opened my eyes. The pain from my cracked or broken rib was gone. Strange. Yawning, I got up and sleepily looked around. It was dark outside. There was a full moon glittering in the clear sky with small stars. I was leaning up against a stone surface. All around me was tall, dome-topped, stone buildings and houses. Small, circular, windows were lit and dotted the buildings. I didn't recognize the place at all, but I was sure that it would come to me sooner or later. I felt something move on my shoulder and I glanced behind me. Angel opened her brown eyes and looked around.

_Where are we?_

"I don't know," I said back. "Let's look around and see what we can find."

I walked through dirt streets, not knowing what I was looking for. Something suddenly brushed past me, but hit me hard enough so that I felt a small portion of pain in my arm. The 'something' turned out to be a little kid. He looked around the age of six or seven and had red hair. He had icy, blue, eyes and wore a light brown poncho that went down to his elbows. A small, brown, paper bag was cradled in his arms. He turned around and ran back to me.

"Um, I'm sorry," he said in a soft voice.

"S'okay," I replied.

The kid looked at me strangely before smiling and running away, the bag making a crunching sound. Angel barked a little.

_Do you have any idea who that was?!_

"No," I replied, shrugging. "Who cares though?"

_That was Gaara when he was a little kid!_

I cocked my head.

_But, I wonder why we ending up in the past._

"Me too," I said, a sweat drop forming at the back of my head.

_Don't you think we should figure out how to get back to the present?_

I shrugged, leaned up against the stone wall of a building, and watched Gaara disappear behind a corner about four hundred yards away from me.

I shrugged and looked up at the sky. The stars twinkled peacefully as if nothing was wrong. Angel suddenly nudged me with her nose five minutes later.

"What?" I asked her.

_Look._

I turned towards the corner where Gaara ran behind. He slowly appeared, looking down at the ground. His face was in a sad expression and his steps were slow. I noticed that he wasn't carrying the bag anymore, since his arms were at his side. A man singing merrily and swinging a beer bottle bumped into him.

_He must be a Sand Villager or Shinobi. _I thought.

"What the?" he looked at Gaara. "Watch where you're going, little brat!"

Gaara stopped and barely glanced at him. Sand suddenly rose up from Gaara's feet.

I closed my eyes. All I heard was the man's scream and the crash of the beer bottle being dropped. I opened my eyes again and saw Gaara walking towards me, the sad expression still on his face. The drunk was lying on the ground and not moving. Some villagers emerged from their homes and came outside.

Gaara continued walking, but then stopped. He looked at a man leaning up against a stone pillar with his arms crossed. He had the same hair style as Gaara, except his hair was brown. He wore a black jacket and sweats with a fishnet shirt underneath. Gaara looked down at the ground and continued walking.

"Need anything to talk about?" I asked when he came to me.

Gaara looked up at me and nodded. We walked up a flight of stairs and sat on the top of a building.

"It's pretty tonight," I said just for the hell of it. "I've never seen it this clear and beautiful before."

Gaara turned to me.

"Who are you?" he asked.

"What?"

"Who are you? I mean, why aren't you running from me?"

"Well, I'm Madeline. Um, why would I run from you?"

Gaara looked down at his feet.

"Because everyone else does," he told those feet.

Gaara looked down at his hands. He then put them over his face and started to cry.

"Gaara," I put my hand on his shoulder.

Man, this is probably going to be the only time I'm going to be this soft and understanding. He looked up at me, tears streaming down his face.

"Are you hurt?"

Gaara stared at me blankly. Angel whimpered, jumped off my shoulder, and crawled into Gaara's tiny arms. Gaara had a stunned look on his face.

"You can pet her," I said. "Go ahead."

Gaara actually smiled and started to stroke Angel's soft, white, fur. Angel snuggled up against his chest and licked his small hands. I gazed at the stars.

"Are you hurting at the heart, Gaara?" I finally asked.

Gaara switched his gaze to me and blinked.

"Yes," he finally answered. "I'm always in pain. I know I'm not bleeding, but lately I've felt a lot of pain here."

He put his right hand over his chest where his heart would be and clutched it.

"Me too, Gaara. Me too."

"Huh?"

I put my hand over my own heart and looked at Gaara.

"I...I was separated from everyone I knew...including my family. Most importantly my brother…and now I can't...I can't..."

Tears started to form in my eyes. _No! _my thoughts screamed. _You will not cry! No crying allowed here! Your tear ducts were sealed off at birth!_

"I can't find him…and there's other things going on that I can't understand or explain."

Tears started to get loose again. _I will not cry, I will not cry, I will not cry. _I thought. _Mom cries, my sister cries, hell, every women cries. I don't cry._ Gaara placed his small hand on my hand that was on my heart.

"Does it hurt?" he asked.

"Yes, Gaara. I can honestly say that it does."

"What was he like?"

"He was the best friend I could wish for. We used to play football and videogames together. When we went to the park, we would tackle each other and roll down the grassy hill until we were too dizzy to stand. He's not just my brother, though. He's...my best friend. He's that special someone in life that you can't just forget. It...it hurts me to think that I may never see him again."

There was a long period of silence.

"Do you have a special someone Gaara?" I turned to him and gently took his amazingly soft hand off mine.

"Y-Yashamaru," Gaara whimpered, burying his face in his hands.

If my heart could soften any more, I swear, it would turn into a marshmallow. I wrapped my arms around Gaara and pulled him into a hug.

"It's okay," I said softly.

The song_ You'll Be in My Heart _by Phil Collins suddenly came into my mind. Something told me to grab my iPod and have Gaara listen to it this moment, so I did.

_Come stop your crying, it will be all right  
Just take my hand, hold it tight  
I will protect you from all around you  
I will be here don't you cry_

For one so small, you seem so strong  
My arms will hold you keep you safe and warm  
This bond between us cant be broken  
I will be here don't you cry

And you'll be in my heart  
Yes, you'll be in my heart  
From this day on  
Now and forever more  
You'll be in my heart  
No matter what they say  
You'll be here in my heart  
Always

Why cant they understand the way we feel  
They just don't trust what they cant explain  
I know were different but deep inside us  
Were not that different at all

And you'll be in my heart  
Yes, you'll be in my heart  
From this day on  
Now and forever more  
You'll be in my heart  
No matter what they say  
You'll be here in my heart  
Always

Don't listen to them, cause what do they know  
We need each other, to have and to hold  
They'll see in time, I know

When destiny calls you, you must be strong  
I may not be with you, but you gotta hold on  
They'll see in time, I know

Well show them together cuz...

You'll be in my heart  
I believe, you'll be in my heart  
Ill be there from this day on  
Now and forever more

You'll be in my heart  
No matter what they say  
You'll be here in my heart always

Always...  
Ill be with you  
Ill be there for you always  
Always and always  
Just look over your shoulder  
Just look over your shoulder  
Just look over your shoulder  
Ill be there always

I finally pulled away after a couple minutes after the song ended and wiped the tears from Gaara's eyes.

"I'll meet you here tomorrow, okay?" I said.

Gaara nodded and handed me Angel. I waved and made my way down the staircase. Before my feet touched the ground, my vision blacked out.

**This was when I was going through my Gaara obsession, so I felt so bad for him that I had to write this. XD I feel pity for all of the Naruto Characters.**


	14. Gaara's and Naruto's True Forms!

**Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto or any of the brand names I mention in this story. I also don't own any of the music lyrics that appear.**

Chapter 14

Gaara's and Naruto's

True Forms!

My body twitched and my eyes snapped open. I looked around and realized I was still up against the tree with Sakura. Angel slightly moved around in my hood, yawned, and blinked.

_Where are we now?_

"I think we're back in the present," I whispered back.

Naruto was flying through the air, aiming his fist at Gaara.

"Looks like time didn't go by at all," I muttered. "But then why did that happen? Why did I go to the past?"

Gaara smacked Naruto with his tail. Naruto flew back and landed on a soft, leafy branch. He got up and panted slightly. He glanced at me, Sakura, and Sasuke.

"Gotta save my friends," he muttered again, but loud enough for us to hear.

Gaara started laughing evilly for about thirty seconds before suddenly stopping.

"And that's exactly why you can't win," he growled. "As long as you fight for the sake of others, you'll never advance beyond this level. Only one can remain undefeated and only he will feel what it's like to truly exist, forget your friends and fight for yourself."

"You're insane," Naruto whispered. "Forget my friends?"

"Let trivial feelings like friendship and loyalty cloud your focus, and you'll die."

"Yeah, yeah. Keep talking while you can. 'Cause I'm about to shut you up once and for all!"

Naruto grabbed a Kunai Knife from his back weapon pouch, jumped into the air, and started coming down towards Gaara.

Gaara smirked and suddenly grabbed his head. His sand tail swept up and swatted Naruto away. Naruto hit a tree branch and face planted into a pile of leaves. He slowly got up and looked at Gaara. Gaara continued to clutch his hair and moan. Naruto just stood there, frozen in the spot. Gaara stopped moaning five minutes later.

"What's the matter?" he growled. "Why don't you attack? Don't you care what happens to your precious friends?"

The hand around me, Sakura, and Angel tightened again. Sakura groaned slightly. Angel whimpered and I coughed. It was getting harder to breathe every passing minute, and the pain in my chest was slightly increasing, if that were possible.

"Sakura! Maddie!" Naruto cried. "Let them go!"

He still just stood there. Angel growled.

_Is he going to move some time this year?_

I ignored her remark. Naruto eyes widened, if something had just clicked. He started making hand seals, bit his thumb, and put his hand on a tree branch.

"Summoning Jutsu!" he screamed.

A cloud of smoke exploded through the air. When it cleared, a small, orange frog wearing a blue kimono appeared right under Naruto's hand. I smiled and laughter started building up in my chest, which hurt like hell.

"What is it?" the frog toad asked in his squeaky voice. "What do you want, kid? Well, whatever it is, I hope you brought along some treats. 'Cause if you think I'm doing anything for nothing, your wrooong!"

"Oh, give me a break!" Naruto cried, his eyes turning big and white. "I'm really starting to hate you stinking frogs!"

"Anti-amphibian, huh? Well then, take that you big beget!"

He stuck out his tongue.

"Listen," Naruto said, calming down. "I don't have time to play games, you slimy little squirt!"

"And I don't have the patience or attention span," I called out.

"Heh, heh," Gaara snickered. "Worried about the others? That's your big mistake. When I fight, I fight for me and me alone."

He looked up. His whole face had turned into a canine-like face. Two, big, pointed ears stuck out on either side of his head. Both of his eyes were floating, yellow beads in blackness and his teeth were razor sharp. The rest of his body quickly morphed before my eyes. His right arm became a large, sand claw and his body hard sand. My eyebrows rose slightly.

Gaara's left arm started being pulled away from its giant hand.

"Of course," I rolled my eyes as the hand stayed as tight as ever on my body.

The handless arm started to regenerate its claw.

"Only by attacking and defeating me can you free them," Gaara smirked evilly, showing his pearly white teeth. "And you should hurry. With each passing second, the sand will harden, until it crushes them to death."

I sighed and gave Gaara a sad look, understanding the pain he was feeling. He caught my stare out of the corner of his eye, and stared at me. I mouthed the words _I understand your pain. _Gaara's eyes widened ever so slightly and turned away. He crossed his giant arms and swept them out quickly.

"Sand Shuriken!" he screamed.

Hundreds of blobs of sand shot out towards Naruto and the frog. Naruto picked up the frog and jumped up. He let out a shout as a blast hit him and he was slammed up against a tree trunk. Naruto rolled off a tree branch and landing on another.

"Woooooow, boy, aren't you pathetic?" the frog remarked.

"Shut up," Naruto growled.

"So, uh, who the heck is this freak anyway?"

Naruto got up and stared into Gaara's eyes. It seamed like forever as silence went on and on and on. The sand claw tightened around my body again. This time, when I coughed, mucus shot out.

"What's the matter?" Gaara finally asked. "Are you afraid of me, or are you still thinking of the best way to save your friends? Fool! Forget them! Think only of yourself, love only yourself. _That_ is what it means to be the strongest!

"What's wrong? You were so bold and cocky before. Show me your strength! Let me grind it into dust before your eyes. Attack you coward! Fight me, or I'll kill the girls and dog right now!"

Naruto groaned angrily and jumped into the air.

"Okay! You asked for it! Multi-shadow clone jutsu!"

Naruto performed the hand sign and thousands of clones appeared in clouds of white smoke. They all charged at Gaara's hideous form.

"Wind style: Sand storm devastation!"

Gaara opened up his jaws and blew. The fierce wind destroyed all of the shadow clones in an instant. After the dust cleared, Naruto appeared face down in a branch.

"I think I'll toy with you awhile," Gaara growled. "I'll watch you bend and your friends and you beg for mercy before you die."

He set out another round of sand blasts. They hurtled towards Naruto, some leaving giant holes in the branches. Naruto was hit by at least fifteen and thrown up against a further trunk.

"And again!"

Gaara set out a third set. Naruto flew back even FURTHER, broke through a branch, and hit up against a second trunk. Naruto struggled to get up.

The blasts pelted Naruto's weak body and made him fly to another branch.

Naruto got up and stood while Gaara started to mock him continuously. The hand tightened around me again. I ground my teeth and tried not to cough. Too late: more mucus and if I weren't mistaken, tiny specks of blood. My head fell forward, suddenly feeling as heavy as lead.

"Where……where the hell is all that energy?" I groaned. "How do I control that chakra I have?"

I closed my eyes and tried to focus.

_C'mon…where are you?_ I thought.

I tried to breathe calmly and ignore the pain in my ribs. After about five minutes of focusing, and Naruto and Gaara beating the pulp out of each other, I started to feel a slight tingling in my lower stomach that soon spread through my whole body. I heard the sound of an explosion, yelling, punching, and then a crash. I tried to concentrate harder, but it wasn't enough, and the tingling ended. At least I had the energy to open my eyes, raise my head and keep it there.

A lot had happened in the past...what, seven minutes? Gaara was gone, as far as I could tell. Naruto was standing on a tree branch, slightly panting. Sasuke was barely standing, and Sakura was still knocked unconscious.

"Ok, where's Gaara?" I asked aloud. "Did he like fall or something?"

Before anyone could answer, something giant made the ground tremble.

"Shit," I muttered.

I tried to slide a Kunai Knife out of my pouch from my thigh. Getting it out was difficult though. My arms were pinned to the tree, and I could only move my hands and fingers. As I was concentrating on the tedious task, Naruto summoned a giant salmon colored toad. He wore a blue cape and smoked a pipe.

While they were chitchatting, I finally pulled out the knife. I gripped it with both hands and started to grind the side of the knife up against the sand. If this worked, I could whittle some sand away from my body, and maybe the grip it had on my body would loosen a bit.

The ground shook violently as the two giants bounded across the Earth, but I hardly paid any attention. I finally looked up, catching a glimpse of the bright orange fur of the Nine Tailed Fox before it disappeared. A giant gust of wind ruffled my hair and there was a faint shout. Stupid trees. There were in the way of my vision, so I went back to grinding. It wasn't any use though. After about five minutes, I stopped and gave up. It was entirely useless. My arms were burning, the sand was tightening every minute, and I was starting to feel lightheaded.

Just as I thought I was going to faint, Naruto and Gaara came falling from the tops of the trees, and they crashed to the ground. They lay there for quite a while, which made me think that they were gone. Suddenly, the sand loosened its grip and started to fall to the ground like a waterfall. Before I knew it, I was falling towards the ground. Sasuke caught Sakura before she fell and lay her down next to Pakkun. _Of course no one saves me, _I thought. Angel jumped off my shoulder and landed on a tree branch. She barked.

_Save yourself or brace for impact!_

Luckily, I was still holding my Kunai Knife and an idea popped into my head. I turned around and jabbed the tree with the point of the knife with both hands. I was slowed down greatly, in fact, so great that I might have pulled a muscle because of the force. I hung on to the end while I dragged the knife down until it stopped about fifty feet off the ground.

I looked around until I found a nice leafy branch to land on. I swung on the end of the knife, back and forth, just like you would do if you were on one of the monkey bars at elementary school. I then pulled the knife out of the tree and jumped to the branch, landing safely, thank God.

Angel leaped into the air and landed next to me. I picked her up and hugged her.

"Are you okay?" I asked. "Do you have any injuries?"

_My left paw hurts and I might have bruised one of my ribs. Some cuts here and there, but otherwise…hey look._

She pointed her nose down towards the ground. I cautiously jumped a few branches down until I was about ten feet above ground. Naruto was on his stomach, hands at his side, inching his way towards Gaara's weakened body with his chin. Gaara told him to stay away. (Cue the sadness and sorrow music). Naruto raised his head in response, looking like he was ready to cry.

"It's unbearable, isn't it?" his voice was shaking. "I know the feeling of being alone, but there are others who I care about. That's why I'll keep fighting, even if it means to kill you to protect them."

"Why?" Gaara asked. "Why do you protect them and not yourself?"

"Because they were the first people who accepted me for who I was."

Gaara turned his head towards the sky. I felt so bad for him and Naruto, that I just wanted to give them a big giant hug. Gaara caught my stare and I smiled slightly.

_Love is…a heart's desire to serve someone precious to you, to watch over them, _Yashamaru's voice echoed in my head. (Cue the music ending.) Where the hell did that come from?!

Gaara gave me a strange blank look and I cocked an eyebrow. As we kept exchanging, these…um…looks, Sasuke jumped down from a branch and told Naruto to give it up.

"Sakura and the other girl are free from the sand. Don't worry, this guy's chakra is practically used up."

Naruto muttered something and rested his head on the ground. Temari and Kankurou suddenly jumped down next to Gaara's weak body. They glared at Sasuke, then followed Gaara's gaze to me. I stared at them, waved slightly, and moved behind the trunk of the tree. I jumped down from branch to branch until I reached the ground. I heard Gaara's voice, then Kankurou's. I peeked from behind my shield.

Kankurou helped Gaara up and slung him over his shoulder while his brother weakly looked up at Sasuke and Naruto. I could tell by his eyes that he meant he was sorry. He quickly switched his gaze to me, and they said the same message, and I knew that he truly meant it. Temari and Kankurou took off with Gaara and I emerged from behind the trunk and watched them disappear.

"Wanna give me a hand?" Sasuke snapped me out of my daze.

I nodded and walked over to sling Naruto over my back.

**Finally! The fight is over! On my laptop, it comes out to be about 72 pages. I'm so proud!**


	15. The Funeral

**Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto or any of the brand names I mention in this story. I also don't own any of the music lyrics that appear.**

Chapter 15

The Funeral

"C'mon, we're going to be late!" Ten-Ten called.

I pulled on my turtle necklace and looked myself in the mirror. The past few days had been crazy. After Sasuke and I got back to the village, we took Naruto and Sakura to the hospital, where we got a checkup ourselves. I did have a cracked rib, along with pulled muscles in my left hand and right shoulder, and cuts and bruises everywhere. Angel bruised two of her ribs and had two and a half nails were torn off. The doctor said it was okay for us to walk and _maybe_ jog a little, but it would be the best if we didn't go out much. He didn't, however, tell me about Naruto, Sasuke, or Sakura.

We stayed at the hospital that night, and Lilian, Shikamaru, Ten-Ten, and Kakashi came to visit us the next morning. Kakashi then told me something that total freaked me out.

_Beginning of Flashback_

The nurse entered the room and replaced my bandages. As usual, she said nothing, she just did her job.

"So," I said, trying to start a conversation. "How's the weather lately? I haven't been outside in a while."

The nurse paused, got up, and opened the giant window, allowing me to see for myself.

"I see," I replied sarcastically.

She finished and left the room, not a word had left her lips. I sighed and sank into the pillow.

"I'm bored," I said to nobody.

Angel yawned.

_So am I, but that's life._

"Hey, that's my slogan!"

_Which is?_

"'Shit happens, but that's life, so suck it up and deal with it'."

_Are you kidding me?! That's not even close to what I said! What I said was…_

"I know what you said! I'm not stupid!! But you're practically…"

I stopped short when the white door suddenly opened, and Kakashi walked in.

"Hello, Madeline," he smiled. "I'm sorry, but am I interrupting something?"

I glared at Angel and she returned it with a growl.

"No," I said. "Just a little disagreement, that's all."

"Oh, well then, are you two feeling better?"

"Sort of, not really."

Kakashi took a seat next to my bed.

"What did the doctor say?" he asked.

"That I shouldn't really move around," I replied. "But I can walk and stuff if I want to."

"That's it?"

"Yeah, why?"

"Because what he told me is another story."

I paused and met Kakashi's face. He was looking at me seriously like he did before he sent me off on that mission. God, I hate that.

"What, then?" I finally asked.

Kakashi sighed.

"Well," he started, looking at his hands. "When the doctor was doing your check-up, he found something."

I sat up immediately.

"What?"

"……….He found an enormous amount of chakra in your stomach area."

"So?"

"So, he called in Lord Hiashi Hyuuga. The doctor asked him to use his Byakugan, to make sure that he was right…and he was.

"Hiashi described the chakra in the shape of a white dog-like figure. I'm sure you know what this means by now."

"It means that I have a tailed beast inside me like Naruto and Gaara," I whispered.

"Yes. Houkou is its name, the five tailed dog demon. That is why you can communicate with Angel."

I stayed silent and cracked my knuckles.

"I talked to Naruto about it, and he said that Neji told him and Shikamaru before the Final Exam. Sasuke also mentioned that when Gaara had you and Sakura pinned against the tree, a small amount of chakra was emitting from you. It was so strong that it was actually visible in a white color."

I looked up, remembering the tingling feeling in my lower stomach.

"Madeline, I think it's time we start training. Lilian too."

"Why Lilian?"

"She got a recent checkup as well. The doctor discovered that she too has a tailed beast inside her. Nekomata, the two tailed cat."

"Her too? Does she know?"

"Yes, and it's not just a coincidence. According to legend, Nekomata made an alliance with Houkou to fight Kyuubi, the nine tailed fox. Lilian is your best friend, right?"

"Yeah," I said after thinking. "When we first met in fourth grade, we actually _had_ to be paired up in Science, since there was no one left for the experiment. And she doesn't really like Naruto, so it all makes sense. But, wait. Why are we talking about this?"

"There is a legend of three possessors of the tailed beasts would team up defeat all of those who are evil. For example: Orochimaru and the Akatsuki. I'm pretty sure you know about both of them already."

I nodded silently. Angel whimpered.

_Do I have a beast too? Or am I part of Houkou?_

"She wants to know if she has a beast, or if she is part of the one that's inside of me," I translated to Kakashi.

"The second one," he replied. "See, she is the key to unlocking Houkou's fifth tail. However, it takes extreme practice and cooperation to master combining the parts of one spirit."

"Oh, okay."

There was silence.

"I'll leave you to go over what I just explained," Kakashi patted my shoulder.

He got up and left.

_End of Flashback_

I sighed. Right after we left the hospital, (which was about five days later) everyone was talking about how the 3rd Hokage was dead and that Orochimaru had escaped. Ten-Ten bought me some black clothing for the funeral: A black tight blouse with a knee length black skirt and black sandals. She also layered my hair, so it grew longer in the front and shorter in the back. My period had ended, so I didn't have anymore cramps.

I carefully placed my contacts into my eyeballs, put on some onyx colored (black) eyeliner, and shrugged.

"Kay, coming!" I called back.

Angel jumped onto my shoulder and we walked out the door.

"You sure you can walk?" Ten-Ten asked.

"I'm feeling pretty good," I made the so-so sign with my hand.

On the way to the arena, we met up with Hinata and Lilian. They too were dressed in black. We didn't say anything to each other; we just waved and then continued to walk. We finally arrived at the Hokage's Office were the funeral was held and were one of the people who stood in the very front. After about of ten minutes of waiting, the funeral finally began. (Cue the sadness and sorrow music again). After the beginning ceremony, everyone placed a white rose on the Hokage's casket. However, before it was my turn, rain started to drizzle from the hideously darkening sky. By the time I was placing my white rose, it was pouring. Angel dropped her flower from her mouth and we walked away.

Tears started to form in my eyes, so I wiped them away, but I knew I would burst out crying at some random part of the funeral sooner or later. It didn't happen though. The rain suddenly stopped, and sunlight streamed in through the clouds.

The funeral ended and everyone went home. (Cue music ending.) I spotted Naruto and the gang and waved. He grinned and waved back.

"So," I said to Lilian and Ten-Ten. "What do you guys want to do now?"

They both shrugged.

"Well…is there like a swimming pool or something?"

"There's a community pool by our condo," Ten-Ten replied.

"Great, cause I wanna go swimming."

"You shouldn't swim too long, though," Ten-Ten said. "You could do some damage."

Lilian and I bought swimsuits, hers a bikini and mine in-between. The top of mine was white, dotted with tiny black polka dots, and outlined in red thread. A skull was stitched in red thread in the upper right corner. The bottom was a pair of black sweats with two white lines running down the sides. Also, two silver balls hung at the end of the black straps of the top piece.

Lilian's bikini was like mine, except for the color: a plum color with a navy blue skirt at the bottom that had little orange fish swimming around in dark green seaweed.

Ten-Ten led us to the pool and they swam while I worked on my tan. After an hour, they grabbed some towels and joined me.

"So, what's it like in your world?" Ten-Ten asked.

"Basically the same as this," I replied.

"Yeah," Lilian agreed. "We have air conditioners, televisions, refrigerators and stuff like that, but the world isn't divided into villages. There are seven continents and in each continent are different nations with different cities. There is also no such thing as a ninja, jutsu, or chakra."

"Wow," Ten-Ten breathed. "That's weird."

"To you yes, but we also have iPods, videogames, and cars. We also have to go to a building called a school."

"You mean like the Ninja Academy?"

"Not exactly," I sighed. "Instead of learning Ninjutsu, Genjutsu, and Taijutsu, we learn about algebra, history of the world, grammar, the scientific parts of life, and other stuff."

"Man that's boring. Do you guys have any time off from that?"

"Well, we have school five times a week, and we get the weekends off. The only breaks are for holidays, and we get this break called Summer Vacation. That's when we get about two and a half months off and get to do whatever we want. But when it ends, we go a grade higher in school. So, for example, we're in the seventh grade right now, but when summer comes, we'll get ready for the eighth grade."

"Oh, I think I understand." The look on her face didn't convince me that she understood at all.

Lilian and I shrugged. At sunset, Lilian went back to Hinata's while Ten-Ten helped me up and we made our way back to our condo. We then cooked up some rice for dinner and Ten-Ten hit the sack as soon as she was finished. I carefully changed into my pajamas and got into bed.

**Mmmm…kinda just a filler chapter. It'll get more interesting, I promise.**


	16. The Akatsuki

**Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto or any of the brand names I mention in this story. I also don't own any of the music lyrics that appear.**

Chapter 16

The Akatsuki

_BEEP! BEEP! BEEP!_

I groaned and opened my eyes. The alarm clock read 6:30 am.

"Uhhhhhh, too early……" I moaned.

_BEEP! BEEP! BEEP!_

"Shut up…"

_BEEP! BEEP! BEEP!_

"I said shut up."

_BEEP! BEEP! BEEP!_

"What the hell?! SHUT UP!!"

_BEEP! BEEP! BEEP!_

"Goddamit!"

I brought down my fist and started hitting it repeatedly until the pest was silenced.

"Ha! What now, bitch?!"

Despite how tired I was, I got up and started to get dressed into my workout clothes I bought: a white tank-top, a pair of black sweat shorts, socks that go below my ankles, and white running shoes. I tied my hair back in the stubbiest ponytail known to man, grabbed my iPod nano, and left the condo with Angel at my heels.

I strapped my iPod to my left arm, turned on Sum 41, and started to run. I was planning on running to the training grounds, stopping there and doing some exercises like sit-ups and pushups, then running back and finding a place to eat.

It was only about a mile to the grounds, and I planned on getting there in about seven to eight minutes. I then expected to take about thirty minutes or less at the training grounds, then another seven to somewhere to eat. In all, I expected to be gone for a little more than an hour.

It was misty this morning, and my toes were starting to get chilled as they hit the cold earth. My watch told me I had only been gone three minutes, and that I had already ran a little more than a quarter of a mile (Yes, that's how fast I run).

Angel would scamper ahead of me, wait, and then run ahead again. I ran past the hot springs, over a wooden bridge, and entered the forest. Four minutes, half a mile. I picked up a tiny bit of speed. Past the endless trees and dripping branches and battle scene of Gaara and Naruto. I past more and more trees by the second. They seemed to go on forever. Suddenly, a Kunai Knife struck a tree a couple of feet behind me. I flinched, stopped my watch, and paused my iPod.

Naruto jumped out of some bushes, with another knife.

"Hiya!" he cried.

"Naruto!" I yelled. "WHAT THE HELL ARE YOU DOING?!"

Naruto paused.

"Oh, hey, Madeline."

"Why did you throw that kunai at me?!"

"Well, I was training over there, and I heard someone coming."

"You could've hit me!"

"Sorry…so, what'cha doing out here?"

"Oh, I'm just on a run with Angel."

"Better now?"

"Yep."

"Okay, then. See ya!"

"Bye!"

I took off again. Six minutes, three quarters of a mile. My iPod was only in the middle of the third song, and the mist was starting to lift a little.

A mile! Finally! Seven-thirty seven. I came to a clearing and stopped. This had to be the training grounds. There was the stream that Naruto fell in, the tree he got stuck in, and the three posts where he got tied up. I also spotted the diamond-shaped memorial-gravestone-thing where Kakashi always goes. A little off to the left, maybe half a football field, were multiple posts of wood. Yes, this had to be the training grounds. Good.

I paused my iPod and sat on a rock. Angel panted and sat down for a couple minutes before getting up and trotting over to the stream, where she lapped up some water. I shivered a little. It seemed colder here than anywhere else. Either that or I was starting to have my cool down. Oh well. I got up, sat on the grass, and started to do crunches. A hundred of those, a hundred bicycles, fifty curl-ups, twenty squats, and fifteen pushups is what I did, then repeated the process four more times.

By the time I was done, the sun had burned off the mist and it was starting to get warm. I walked over to the stream, splashed some water on my face, and sat under the tree with Angel, where Naruto got stuck in, trying to think of what to eat when I got back.

"I don't want ramen," I muttered. "Curry's too spicy for me unless it's the mild kind, I had rice last night…maybe I'll just get some toast and fruit…"

Angel barked.

_I want some chicken!_

"Okay, fine. That's what we'll get. For you, chicken, and for me, a banana, some grapes, and a strawberry with-"

I stopped in mid-sentence as I was suddenly yanked upwards by my feet. Angel barked fiercely and ran around the tree. I then dangled from one of the branches, upside down.

"What the hell?!" I exclaimed. "Where the hell…when the hell…how the hell…Rrrrgh…KAKASHI, YOU ASSHOLE, GET ME DOWN THIS INSTANT!!"

My explosion echoed through the whole area. When it faded, Kakashi stepped out from behind my tree.

"Well, I wasn't expecting to find you here," he smiled, giving me a slight push with his finger.

I rolled my eyes as he chuckled to himself as I swung lightly from side to side. Angel instantly realized who he was and ran over to him.

"Hey, Angel," Kakashi smiled, petting her.

"Just get me down," I groaned. "Hurry, 'cause my blood is rushing to my head."

Kakashi brought out a kunai, sliced the rope, and caught me by my right foot before I fell.

"Gotcha."

Kakashi set me down as I regained my bearings.

"What are you doing here anyway?" he asked me when I got up.

"I was just here to pick some daises, then skip around like a naïve little child…OH, WHAT THE HELL DO YOU THINK I'M DOING HERE?! YOU SAW ME!! Angel and I are on a run, so I decided to stop here and do some sit-ups and crap. You?"

"Oh, I was just taking a trip down memory lane when my three little Genin first joined the team."

_More like visiting Obito's grave, _I thought.

"How far have you ran?" Kakashi suddenly asked, snapping me out of my thoughts.

"Huh? Oh, only about a mile. We're going back to town to get something to eat. That's about another mile."

"Why don't I take you? I bet you don't have any money."

"What? You don't have to…"

"Oh, it's no trouble at all. If I weren't mistaken, you said you wanted fruit and toast, correct?"

"Yeah."

"What about Angel?"

I looked at her and she barked.

_Chicken and maybe something else._

"She said chicken."

"Just follow me, and I'll lead you."

I nodded, turned on my iPod, and took off. Kakashi would jump so far that I couldn't see him, wait until I caught up, and then jump again. We past the ramen stand, the bookstore, and some other restaurants.

I looked at my watch. Angel and I had run a mile and a half. How far was this place anyway? Just as I was going to ask Kakashi, we finally arrived at the little café, called the Teahouse. I sat down on a low, wooden bench, Angel next to me and Kakashi across. I ordered some water and a cup of green tea, while Kakashi ordered a cup of jasmine. A beautiful waitress with her strawberry blonde hair in curls and wearing a white uniform that clung to her perfect figure headed over to our table.

"What can I get you?" the waitress flashed a brilliant smile, showing off her perfect white teeth. She asked this question more to Kakashi than to me. In fact, she moved her back in front of me so that she could face my sensei.

"I'm good, thank you," he replied.

"Are you sure?" the beautiful waitress's smile instantly turned into a crestfallen frown.

He nodded and looked over at me. "Maddie?"

The waitress sighed unhappily and turned around to glare at me. I rolled my eyes at her failed attempt to try to impress Kakashi and studied the menu.

"Um…" I quickly read through all of the meals. "What does the fruit salad include?"

"Chopped strawberries, blueberries, bananas, melon, cantaloupe, watermelon, and grapes," the waitress sighed, probably because she had to say all of that to me. "It also comes with a side order of yogurt."

"Can you make the yogurt vanilla and nonfat?"

"Sure, whatever."

"Oooookaaay… I'll take that and some cinnamon toast."

"Are you sure you don't want anything?" she had already turned back towards Kakashi.

He nodded. "Yes, I'm sure."

"Alright, but just call me back over if you change your mind."

Kakashi smiled at her. "I'll think about it."

The waitress grinned back and walked away slowly back to the kitchen. Angel whimpered.

_Hey! You guys forgot about me! Ever think of me?!_

"Oh, sorry," I grinned, then turned. "Excuse me, waitress?"

"What?" she turned around clearly annoyed.

"Could we also get a side order of dumplings and orange chicken?"

"Uh-huh."

"Thanks."

Angel growled.

_If I have to remind you to feed me, than that's ridiculous._

"Oh shut up," I waved my hand at her.

_Maybe I'll bite you next time._

"I can't hear you!" I plugged my ears.

_WHAT DID YOU SAY?!_

I hummed to myself lightly.

_That's it!_

Angel clamped her extremely sharp teeth to my hand.

"What the hell, Angel? I don't have a clue what you've been eating or sniffing! And I'm about to eat too! Ugh, I'm going to the restroom."

I got up, shook Angel off my hand, and followed the signs to the bathroom, leaving Kakashi to sigh and my dog to pout. I emerged out of the bathroom a couple of minutes later, relieved that my hands were clean.

As I walked back to the table, I noticed two figures sitting a couple of tables away from ours. They were dressed in black cloaks with red clouds and wore straw hats that covered their faces. They seemed familiar to me, but I couldn't put my finger on it. Shrugging, I sat down and found that our food was already there.

"Awesome!" I smiled.

I took a bite out of the cinnamon and sugar layered buttered toast and mixed the white yogurt around with my fruit. I then picked up a yogurt-covered piece of cantaloupe with my chopsticks and stuffed it in my mouth.

"Yum!" juice dribbled out of my mouth.

I took a piece of orange chicken and fed it to Angel. She chomped on it hungrily and waited for the next piece. I eventually just set the plate of chicken down next to her.

All of this time, Kakashi looked like his mind was somewhere else. He just wasn't watching me eat my breakfast, he would occasionally glance over his shoulder, and his right eye would slowly look around.

"Madeline," he finally said. "Do you mind if I leave?"

"Hm?" I paused in the middle of sliding a dumpling off its stick. "Oh, go ahead Kakashi. I don't care."

Kakashi nodded and got up. I tossed the dumpling into my mouth, spit it out, and gulped down my tea.

"These things are disgusting!" I spat.

"Not much of a sweet tooth, huh?" Kakashi asked.

"Well, it depends. Really sweet stuff like _that_, cupcakes, cake, and anything too chocolatety, just make my stomach upset."

Kakashi chuckled, gave me the amount of money the meal cost, and left. Angel barked.

_Where do you think he had to go?_

"I dunno," I replied, cramming the last of my toast into my mouth. "Probably to do some training and stuff."

_Don't forget visit Obito's grave._

"He already did that today."

_Well, hey, you never know._

"Whatever, let's go. I'm done."

I put the money on the table and left. When I got out of the café, I spotted Kakashi reading one of those perverted books. Ewwwww.

"THAT'S WHAT YOU MEANT BY 'DOING OTHER STUFF'?!" I screamed.

"Hm? Oh no. I'm waiting on someone."

"Oh, well bye then."

I walked back to Ten-Ten's condo, took a shower, changed into my regular clothes, and left again.

"What to do now?" I sighed. "So bored…Guess I'll take a walk around, then."

Angel jumped onto my shoulder and we walked along. We past the Ramen Stand, the Yamanaka Flower Shop, and BBQ Restaurant. I stopped in front of the bookstore and thought about what Kakashi said at the hospital.

"Let's do some research," I said to Angel.

_On what?_

"The tailed beasts."

I pushed the double doors open and walked inside. It was like any other store that sold books. Millions of books stood like soldiers in their bookcases. About twenty couches and five desks with chairs lay scattered across the whole place. A man reading a book was at the pay desk.

I glanced around. A book about the tailed beasts should be in the Fiction section. Some signs hung from the ceiling. I couldn't read them though, they were in Japanese kanji. Suddenly, a sign transformed into English writing. 'Fiction/Legend' it read. I walked over to the bookshelf and looked for a book that had the title similar to the beasts.

I found one, grabbed it, and bought it with money I had left over from Kakashi. Weird. Why would he give me extra? I shrugged and left the store, looking for a nice place to read. I probably walked around for about thirty minutes before Angel started to growl at me.

_Are you going to read that book sometime soon?_

"Yeah," I replied. "I just need a really good place to sit down."

_Picky aren't you?_

"Well…hey, look! There's a spot!"

I pointed to the tree outside the Ninja Academy. I sat down on the swing, glad that I could finally use some decent shade. I opened up the book and skipped to the chapter about Houkou.

I ran my finger along the ancient writing. Something finally caught my eye.

_Houkou is the five tailed dog of the tailed beasts, or Bijuu as some may call them. His long and sleek body is covered in white fur and his five tails each contain the five elemental powers: earth, wind, fire, water, and lightning. Houkou will destroy nature to gain the power he craves and can create any kind of natural disaster. Because of his expertise in Genjutsu, he is also known as the God of Illusion._

I placed my hand on my stomach where Houkou is supposed to be, and skipped to the last chapter.

_According to legend, three of the tailed beasts will band together to defeat all those who are evil and recreate a time of peace and prosperity. Many think the beasts are Houkou, the five tailed dog, Nekomata, the two tailed cat, and Raijuu, the six tailed weasel, or Kyuubi, the nine tailed fox. No one can tell from the ancient artwork that has been found. However, during that time, one of the beasts will be defeated, and another will be swayed by those who are evil. A war will then rage between the two until…_

The rest of the page had been ripped out. Whoever read this book last, didn't want me, or any other Jinchuuriki, to find out about the rest of the legend. They certainly didn't want us to know our true destiny. I got off the swing and Angel whimpered.

_Where are we going now?_

"I need to show this to Lilian and Kakashi," I replied. "Something's going on, and I don't like the feeling of it."

_Right._

Angel jumped onto my shoulder and I set off to find them.

"I give up," I groaned.

I've searched for them for more than an hour, and I still couldn't find them. It was useless. I let my head fall in between my arms. I was leaning on the railing of a bridge over a small river. Angel barked.

_Maybe they're training in the forest or something._

"Lilian's too lazy to do that, unless she has to," I replied. "So am I. I'm not sure about Kakashi though. He said he was waiting on someone, probably Sasuke. Maybe…nah, whatever, we'll probably find them eventually."

I grabbed my _Twilight_ book out of my weapon pouch and started to read it, leaning up against the red railing of the bridge.  
"Hey, Madeline," a voice came.

I looked up and saw that Lee stood there, a couple of feet away from me. He was holding his crutches, but smiling.

"'Sup Lee," I had already turned back to my attention back to my book, but I gave him a wave, which was more like a 'get lost' then a 'hello' wave.

"I haven't seen you in a while. Watcha been up to?"

"Nothin', just hanging out. I've recovered from my cracked rib, so I can actually start to train…after I learn the basic stuff at the Academy."

"Don't worry, it's not that hard. You'll get the hang of it in no time."

"Easy for you to say, you only had to learn friggin' Taijutsu…which I suck at."

"True."

Angel suddenly started barking frantically.

_Yo, sis! Check that out over there!_

"What?" I sighed, looking up from my book, following the point of her nose.

In the distance, almost on the horizon line, were five figures: three on the right side, and two on the left.

"Who are they?" I asked my dog.

_I'm not sure, but it's obviously a fight._

"What's going on?" Lee asked.

I shrugged, "Whatever it is, I'm going to find out."

_You mean WE'RE going over THERE?!_

"Yes, we are going over there. Come on."

Angel growled and jumped onto my shoulder. I placed the two books in my waist pouch, and they both surprisingly fit.

I ran off the bridge and into the forest. Harnessing the stamina into my feet, I jumped onto a branch and continued towards the fight. Angel growled loudly.

_I've been watching these people closely when you were reading and chitchatting._

"And?"

_I think the two people on the left know we're here. The tall one looked in our direction, and then nudged the other one after about a minute._

"What do you suppose we do then?"

_Oh I don't know, how about turn around and not get ourselves killed?_

"Too late, we're already here."

I stopped on a branch and peered from behind the trunk and leaves. The fight was taking place on the river and there _were_ five people. Kurenai, Asuma, and Kakashi were the furthest away from me and the nearest…My eyebrows rose. Nearest to us were two men I had to squint at to recognize. One was insanely tall, had a blue, shark-like face, and carried a giant sword on his back. The other one was shorter than the first one, but still was pretty tall. He had piercing blood red eyes and had his long black hair up in a low ponytail.

Itatchi Uchiha and Kisame, from the Akatsuki.

I suddenly realized that _they_ were the ones who looked familiar at the Teahouse.

_STUPID! STUPID!! STUPID!! _I screamed in my thoughts.

Kakashi suddenly collapsed on his knees, breathing heavily. I knew what happened: Itatchi had trapped him in his Genjutsu.

"Why are you here?" Kakashi whispered. "Are you after Sasuke?"

"No…" Itatchi answered after a moment. "We're after the legacy of the Fourth Hokage, and the three others in the legend."

I flinched, and Angel whimpered slightly.

_I have to get out of here and warn Lilian, _I thought frantically.

Itatchi told Kisame to kill Kurenai and Asuma, but not Kakashi. The shark-faced guy grinned evilly, pulled out his GIGANTIC sword, and struck.

Suddenly, Gai appeared and kicked the freak away.

"Well, well, well, who do we have here?" Kisame grinned.

"I am the Leaf Village's fiercest warrior," Gai flashed his blinding smile. "Might Gai."

"Might Gai, huh? Mighty stupid-looking guy."

I smirked, and stifled laughter that was fighting to escape. I clamped my hands over my mouth and hid behind the trunk. I felt eyes on me, and didn't come out until Itatchi told Kisame not to fight and that it wasn't worth it.

I watched them jump into the air and sighed in relief. Before they disappeared, however, something hit the trunk with a _THUNK!_ I peered out to see what it was. A Kunai Knife with an explosion tag attached to it, slowly deteriorating as it burned. WAIT…WHAT?!

"SHIT!!" I screamed.

Angel leaped over my shoulder and I jumped off the branch while the tag exploded. As I shoulder-rolled to the ground, my left leg started to burn like hell. I looked down and the first layer of my skin around my calf and shin had completely disappeared. I cradled it and looked up to find Gai, Kurenai, and Asuma staring at me. Kakashi was slung over Gai's shoulder, unconscious.

"Oh, um, ow, hi," I gave a small wave.

"What are you doing here, Madeline?" Gai asked.

"Ugh…Well, I was looking for Kakashi and my friend, Lilian, ow, for like ever when I ran into Lee on that itsy-bitsy bridge WAAAAAYYY over there. Angel then saw you guys over here and so I came over to tell Kakashi something, when I hid behind that tree to hide from those Akatsuki dudes. When they left, Weasel-boy or Fishstick must've thrown that Kunai with an explosive tag because Angel said earlier that she thought that they saw us. And so it exploded and I got burned and then you guys were staring at me…"

"We get it," Asuma interrupted.

"What did you want to tell him?" Kurenai asked suspiciously.

"Um, well, it's actually, ow, kind of private."

"Is it about the tailed beasts?"

"What?" Asuma and Gai asked together.

I flinched and Kurenai nodded.

"Lilian's my student, for now at least, so I understand."

"Oh."

"We'll talk about this later," Asuma said. "We need to get Kakashi, and it looks like you too, taken care of."

"Huh? I'm fine, don't worry about me."

"No, you're not."

Asuma was already at my side, looking at my burn. Damn, he's fast.

"Really, its okay," I protested, standing up.

Pain shot through my leg, but I ignored it.

"Tell me when he's better," I told them. "I'm going to go find Lilian."

I started to walk away…well, more like limp.

"I got a better idea," Asuma stopped me. "Why don't we take care of you and Kakashi, and your friend can come and visit you."

"But…"

Angel growled.

_Just listen to someone for once. It'll make your life much easier._

I looked from my dog to Asuma and sighed.

"Ugh, fine."

Asuma nodded and picked me up easily from under the armpits and knees, as if carrying a hundred and ten pounds was no problem. Kurenai and Gai nodded, and they took off. As Asuma carried me, I decided that I would prefer Kakashi to carry me, but oh well.

We arrived at an apartment, I guessed Kakashi's because when we got inside, Gai placed Kakashi in the bed in the corner. I glanced around as Asuma set me down on the wooden floor. Man, some apartment. The place was tiny! There was the bed Kakashi was sleeping in right now, a desk with a chair, a billboard above the desk, and a long wooden table was behind the bed. On the table were a couple of books, and two picture frames: One of Kakashi with Rin, Obito, and the Fourth Hokage, and the other with Naruto, Sasuke, and Sakura. Paintings hung all over the walls. Small, but decent I guess.

Kurenai kneeled by me, and pressed in icepack to my calf. I winced and ground my teeth.

"It's not fair," I groaned. "Right after I recover from some injury, I get hurt again! First, I get beaten to a bloody pulp by Gaara, then I get a cracked rib because of his sand, and _now_ I get burned by freaking Itatchi!"

There was silence.

"It doesn't make sense," Gai muttered.

"They've already infiltrated the village, so finding Naruto won't be that hard," Asuma fiddled with his cigarette box. "By the way, Kurenai, what did Itatchi mean by 'the legend of the three tailed beasts'?"

Kurenai paused and looked at me. I pulled out my book I bought, flipped to the ripped page, and held it up for everyone to see.

"This is what he's talking about," I rolled my eyes. "There's this legend Kakashi told me about while I was in the hospital. Three out of the nine tailed beasts…oh, I'll just have you guys read it for yourself."

I threw the book to Gai, who was sitting on a chair a couple of feet away from me. He caught it and started to read, while Asuma got off the desk and peered over his shoulder.

"Why would Kakashi tell you this?" Gai asked.

I sighed and looked up at all of them.

"Because I have Houkou inside of me," I finally said.

Before any of them could say anything, I continued.

"Lord Hiashi Hyuuga has already proven it, so has Neji. Sasuke saw some of my chakra emit, that was white. It also explains why I didn't get knocked out by Gaara's sand when it pinned me to that tree at like, fifty miles an hour. Plus, I can communicate with Angel, and she's a cream colored, almost white. Kakashi told me that most of the spirit is inside of me, but one of the five tails is in Angel. That must mean I can control four out of the five elements."

"Hiashi also proved that there's a spirit inside Lilian too," Kurenai added. "There. All done."

She had finished applying ice to my burn and was now wrapping some cloth around my leg.

"Right, Nekomata, the two tailed cat. If you read that book, it says that Houkou and Nekomata will team up with Raijuu or Kyuubi. They also teamed up long ago to try to defeat the nine tailed fox. Lilian and I became friends because we _had_ to be science partners, and she dislikes Naruto, so it all makes sense."

"What about Raijuu?" Asuma asked. "And the ripped page?"

"I don't now, but…"

"Shhhh, someone's coming," Gai interrupted me.

We all stayed silent. Angel sniffed.

_It's Sasuke._

Right on cue, the door opened, and the raven-haired Uchiha entered.

"Hey, Kakashi," he started then looked around. "Wait. Why is Kakashi asleep? And why is this room full of Jounin?"

"Well…" I started.

"Hey!" a voice shouted. "Is it true that Itatchi is back?!"

Ebisu barged in.

"And that he's after those two girls and Naruto?!" he finished.

I flinched. How many people had Kakashi, Neji, and Hiashi told about us? I then suddenly remembered Lilian, and stood up. Without thinking, I grabbed the book from Gai and ran out of the room. I jumped the stairs two at a time, and realized that Sasuke was behind me.

"What the hell are you doing?!" he yelled. "Don't you realize that your life is in danger?!"

I ran out of the apartment building, stopped, and turned to face him.

"Yeah, so?" I replied. "I need to find my friend though and…"

"You don't know how strong my brother is!!"

"Actually, I do. He practically blew off my entire lower left leg, just from an explosive tag. I probably know more about him than you do; why he killed your entire clan and so on."

Sasuke's face flushed in anger.

"How dare you say-"

"Just calm down, shut the hell up, and go find Naruto. I'm most likely Itatchi's first target because he already injured me. Get Naruto away from him at all costs, no matter what. While you do that, I'm going to find Lilian and warn her. She's also a target."

Sasuke started to protest, then stopped, and stared at me, like I was from another planet. He then nodded and took off.

"Let's hurry," I told Angel. "We don't know when Weasel-boy and Fishstick will be back."

_Right. I'll smell her out._

She put her nose to the ground and sniffed. Finally, she started barking.

_Found her! Come on!_

She harnessed her stamina in her feet and jumped up to the rooftops. I followed her.

"Wait a minute," I said. "Why didn't you do this before?"

_I dunno. I wasn't thinking, I guess._

I groaned, my eye twitching.

_There she is!_

We jumped to the ground and came to the training grounds. Lilian was leaning up against a tree, sleeping. I grinned evilly and walked over. Grabbing my iPod nano, I placed the earphones into her ears, and turned on loud rock music. She yelled and fell over. I laughed hysterically and put the iPod away.

"WHAT THE HELL WAS THAT FOR?!" Lilian screamed angrily.

"Hm? Oh, one, because it's fun to play pranks on you, and two, because we have about fifty percent chance of being caught by Itatchi and Kisame."

"WHAT!?"

I sighed. This was going to take forever.

"Oooooohhhhhhhh," Lilian nodded. "I get it."

"Good. You just passed the first test of using your brain."

"What do we do then?"

"I think it's time we start to learn how to control our chakra."

"Good idea."

There was silence as we just stood there.

"And how and where are we going to do that?" Lilian finally asked.

"I don't know," I stared off into space. "Maybe we should ask Kakashi sensei, or Gai sensei, or…Naruto."

"What? Why Naruto?"

"Maybe he could give us some tips. You know how hard he trains."

"Oh. M'kay, but where is he?"

"Um…that outpost town. It's about a couple of kilometers from here."

"Okay, let's roll."

We leaped to the branches and headed our way out.

"Finally," I landed on a roof.

Angel barked.

_Great, so where is he?_

"………He's at a hotel."

"How do you know?" Lilian asked.

"I dunno, I just do."

_You've been watching the same episodes too many times._

"Yeah, well…"

"Hey, look over there!"

I looked in the direction her finger was pointing. It was a hotel alright, it looked like an ordinary three story. On the second floor, a little left from the middle was a huge hole in the wall. You could see the hall inside, and four figures. Two short, one tall, and the last maybe about my height. Angel sniffed and then growled.

_Those two are defiantly Naruto and Sasuke. I think the others are Itatchi and Kisame._

"Come on," I said. "But…"

"Yeah, yeah, I already know that crap. My sister, remember?"

I nodded, and then felt suddenly very tired with a pounding headache. I closed my eyes, and it seemed like I would fall asleep right then and there.

"Woah, you okay?" Lilian asked.

I nodded.

"Just tired. Let's hurry and get this over with."

She nodded and we jumped to the front of the hotel. We approached the check-in desk, making the man look up.

"What can I do for you two?" he asked.

"Uh…" I thought of what we should say.

"We're just visiting some friends," Lilian suddenly brought up. "We won't be long though."

The man nodded and went back to his work. We climbed the first flight of stairs and turned a corner. We were about to turn another corner, when I stopped and held up a hand. Lilian froze, and Angel jumped off my shoulder and sniffed.

_The four are right around this corner. I suggest we either stay here and listen, or leave._

I nodded, turned to Lilian, and put a finger to my lips. She nodded back and we stood and listened.

Sasuke yelled angrily, and then there was a loud _CRACK!_

"Enough," a low voice snarled.

The younger Uchiha screamed in pain, and there was a soft _THUMP!_

"Sasuke!" it was Naruto's voice.

"Stay out of it Naruto," Sasuke moaned.

Silence, then a yell from Sasuke, and finally a punch. There was a loud _CRASH! _that came from the other end of the room, and then a groan. My headache suddenly came back, even more painful than before. I cringed and turned to Lilian.

"We gotta get outta here," I whispered. "Now."

"Oh, I don't think so," a voice growled behind us.

We turned to find Kisame grinning evilly. His right hand was grabbing the hilt of his enormous sword that was on his back.

"You're not going anywhere," he smirked.

He stepped forward and we backed up. Angel sniffed, and growled, showing her teeth.

_That's defiantly Kisame. _

"Way to make a statement, Captain Obvious," I growled.

_Let's leave and run as fast as we can._

"And how do you suppose we do that?" I whispered to her.

_Well…_

I sighed and looked up at the Akatsuki member. I probably met his elbow, maybe less. Whatever. He was a giant.

"You're defiantly the one," Kisame sneered at me. "The Jinchuuriki of Houkou."

I stared at him and he smirked. Kisame started to move forward again. My hand trembled as I slowly reached for a Kunai Knife.

"Too slow!" Kisame cried.

He brought his sword. I whipped out a knife and brought it in front of me. Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Angel fly through the air, and Lilian threw three shuriken from behind him. Kisame swatted Angel away with his left hand, keeping his right on the sword.

The sword came down on my knife, but not as hard as it would with both hands. The force knocked me over, sending me sliding across the tile. Lilian's shuriken hit its target, but the enemy disappeared in a cloud of smoke.

"Damn it," I muttered, then yawned.

Angel whimpered and sniffed. She then barked frantically.

_Watch out! He's…_

"Look out!" Lilian tackled me to the side.

We rolled to the left, missing Kisame's sword by inches. I groaned, slid out another knife, and sleepily sat up. Lilian got off me before a hand hit her in the back of the neck, making her collapse. I got up as quickly as I could, but a hand grabbed my left arm before I could jump away.

"I told you, you aren't going anywhere," Kisame snarled.

My eyes narrowed.

I turned around and drove my right hand that was clutching the knife towards his head. His left hand grabbed my wrist. My headache came back more powerful than ever. I cringed and heard Kisame snicker. I growled, ignored the pounding in my head, and tried kicking him in the side of the neck with my left foot. Kisame just moved his right hand that was holding my left and blocked it with his elbow, making my foot touch my hand. Good thing I'm flexible, or that would've hurt.

"You're left kick is weak," Kisame grinned evilly. "Probably account of that explosive tag that we threw at you."

That was the last straw. I spotted Angel coming up from behind Kisame. Perfect. This'll be my chance. She ran full speed at his ankle and opened up her jaws. Kisame turned around and jumped over Angel. While he was distracted, I managed to bring my hands together and make the hand sign to control your chakra. I closed my eyes, relaxed, and focused my chakra to my right foot. When I was sure it was strong enough, I opened my eyes. My right foot was surrounded by what looked like white flame. I kicked at Kisame's chest with all of my strength and was rewarded with a direct hit. I pushed backwards and Kisame let me go.

I slid across the floor and stopped at Naruto's feet. I looked up and gave him a fake smile.

"Um, hi," I said, trying to sound cheerful.

"Madeline?! What are you doing here?!" he cried.

"Well..." I got up.

"You need to get outta here!"

I barely had time to reply before being grabbed by the waist and held against someone's chest. I glanced up and sighed.

The Kisame that I kicked disappeared in a cloud.

"It was a clone," I muttered.

"Well, I'll give you some credit," Kisame pulled out a Kunai. "You certainly have the guts to go up against me like that."

I ground my teeth and closed my eyes, feeling extremely tired.

_I don't think I can do that again, _I thought. _I bet I can, but…I'll have to think of something else, but what?_

"Hey, Itatchi," Kisame put the Kunai closer to my neck. "Why don't you use the Mangekyo on her?"

I glanced over at the older Uchiha. He had Sasuke pinned to the wall with one hand. Sasuke screamed and then fell silent. Itatchi turned his head, and I immediately closed my eyes.

"No," he answered plainly. "I've already used it on her once. That's enough."

I raised an eyebrow with my eyes still tightly shut. So _that's_ why I was drawn towards this place. _That's_ why I'm so exhausted and have this headache. Itatchi had lured me here.

"………That's too bad. I guess I'll just have to…"

He didn't finish his sentence. I opened my eyes and could see why: The floor, walls, and even the ceiling were covered with what looked like squishy, pink flesh. I lifted a foot, and it felt like I had just stepped in gum.

"Sick," I muttered.

"Don't move," a man said. "And you won't sink."

I glanced over at him, and my eyes widened. The man was tall, probably as tall as Kakashi, and had, long, spiky white hair that went down to his waist. Below both of his eyes was a red streak that traveled down to his chin.

"Great, now the pervy sage is here."

Jiraiya looked at me, and sweatdropped.

"Let's go, Kisame," Itatchi said.

Kisame pulled away the knife and slung me over his shoulder.

_Wait, they're taking me?! _I thought frantically. _No! No!! NO!! I don't want them to…to…to…_

I couldn't even think of what they would do to me.

Kisame tried pulling his sword out of the flesh with both hands, but I rolled off him. I landed on the ground with a _plop!_ It was soft, but disgusting. Kisame reached to pick me up, but I was sinking away, and fast.

"Leave her, Kisame," Itatchi said, sounding irritated. "Now, hurry up."

Kisame glared at me, pulled out his sword, and took off with Itatchi. Jiraiya pushed into the ground, and a huge tidal wave of flesh rolled after the two Akatsuki members. As we waited, Angel trotted over, jumped onto my shoulder, and whimpered.

_I'm sorry. I didn't really help at all. I'm useless._

"Are you kidding?" I looked at her. "What you did back there was great! If it weren't for you, I wouldn't have pulled off that move to get me free of that damn bastard."

_Yeah, but still…_

"Madeline, that was awesome!" Naruto exclaimed. "I never knew you could do that!"

"Uh, neither did I," I shrugged.

"How did you do it?"

I sighed. _So _many questions from _so _many people.

"Uh…I just gathered some of my chakra in my right foot."

"It must be really strong if it's visible."

"Yeah, sure, whatever."

Jiraiya ran down the hall and turned a corner. Naruto and I looked at each other and followed him. At the end of the second hall was a giant hole that led outside. Sinister, black flames surrounded the circumference of the circle. Angel trotted over to the hole and sniffed. She then growled and bounced back onto my shoulder.

_That stuff is BAD. Don't go near it._

Jiraiya pulled out a scroll and sealed the flames inside. He then stomped on the ground, and the frog stomach jutsu disappeared.

Sasuke emerged from the wall and was about to fall to the ground, but Naruto ran over and caught him. I suddenly remembered Lilian, and slowly walked down to the end of the hallway where she sat, slumped. I crouched next to her to get a better look. Her head hung forward and her black hair fell in her face.

I decided to just let her stay unconscious, and she'll wake up later.

"She alright?" Jiraiya asked me from across the hallway.

I nodded. Suddenly, there was a soft _THUNK! _against the wall.I turned around and rolled my eyes. Gai jumped in from the hole in which the black flames were, sprinted towards Jiraiya, and kicked him in the face. He then realized who he was attacking and sweatdropped.

"Gai…" Jiraiya's eye twitched. "WHAT THE HELL ARE YOU DOING?!"

"Well, um," Guy started. "I got here as fast as I could and hid behind the wall of the hole, and I used my headband to see. I saw two dark and sinister figures, so I lashed out my attack to finish off those two once and for all."

"If that's your excuse for a sorry, then it stinks more than the last shit I took!"

I smirked and started laughing hysterically. Gai looked from me, to Jiraiya and muttered an apology.

"Whatever," the pervy sage sighed. "Our first priority is getting Sasuke to the hospital immediately. Those two should also get a check-up."

"Again?" I groaned. "I just got out of the friggin' hospital like three weeks ago or something."

"Itatchi used the Mangekyo Sharingan on you. You should've been knocked out, but you weren't. Odd, but you might experience side effects later."

Once he said the words 'side effects,' my head began to feel heavy. My eyes drooped, but I shook my head to keep myself awake.

"I think that's what's happening now," Gai remarked.

"No, I'm fine," I shook my head again.

I stood up, but my legs gave way to my weight, and I stumbled towards the wall and put my hand up against it for support.

"Madeline!" it was Naruto's voice.

"I said…I'm fine…Don't worry…about….me…"

Suddenly, an image flashed through my mind. It was sometime during the last week of sixth grade, and I had just found out that Ben was moving to Texas. (Ben was one of my best friends since preschool, and I liked him in the sixth grade, but he moved so….) I found my throat sore and my eyes burning as I wrote in his yearbook on the last day of school, the last day I ever saw him.

"No…" I whispered. "He's gone. I need to forget this."

_If Itatchi is still messing with me with his Sharingan, _I thought. _I swear to God…_

I didn't have time to swear to God, though, because the next thing I knew; I was on the ground, leaning up against the wall, holding my head, and Naruto was next to me, asking if I was okay. I tried to keep my eyes open, but then I blacked out.

**As you can see, this is the longest chapter so far. That's because I wrote it like at the beginning of seventh grade…around September 2007. Oh, and I have to rewrite the romance stuff now, because I paired Lil up with Neji, but she wants Sasuke. sigh So expect Chapter 17 to come out later...**


	17. Recovering and Training

**Ok, so Lil said I could just post what I had already wrote half a year ago so I'm gonna post it. Don't worry, Lil. I'll write another Naruto fanfic about you and Sasuke…eventually…**

**Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto or any of the brand names I mention in this story. I also don't own any of the music lyrics that appear.**

Chapter 17

Recovering

And

Training

I was floating through what seemed like eternal darkness. I got up and stumbled around a bit, since I was still weak and tired. After I was used to standing, I started walking around in the free for all space. Suddenly, I saw a little square of light in front of me. As I ran towards it, it grew bigger, and bigger, until I was staring out a window at a gray and rainy world. I stared at it, kind of spacing out. Suddenly, I thought I saw something wrong with the scene and looked closer. A dark and sinister cloud stretched down to the ground and formed into a vicious tornado **(A/N: These dreams never make any sense because I live in Southern California, not Kansas)**. My eyes widened and I stumbled backwards until I fell onto my bed.

"Madeline, get up!" my mom rushed into my room and chucked a backpack at my face. "Hurry! Pack all of your most precious possessions and some clothes into here! We don't have much time!"

Without even thinking twice, I grabbed my best jeans and T-shirts and stuffed them in along with my diary, iPod, cellphone, sketchbook, laptop, and favorite books and graphic novels.

I hurriedly glanced out my window again and realized the tornado was closer. I slung my backpack over my shoulder and jumped down the stairs three at a time. I then grabbed Angel from the backyard and shoved Noah and my little sister into the car. As my parents started the car, I looked behind me and noticed another tornado had formed about ten miles away from our house. The one in front was closer than ever. We pulled out of the driveway, raced through the community, and got onto the freeway. And then, right in front of us, was one hell of a tornado of death and destruction…

My eyes snapped open and I found my heart pounding in my chest. A cold sweat had started to form at the back of my neck and my legs were twisted in white sheets. I sighed in relief that it was only a nightmare and checked my surroundings. I was lying in a white bed in a white room. Dammit. I was in the hospital again. Without moving my head, I barely glanced to the left and right. Someone was sitting in a chair by my bed with something white in their lap, another was leaning up against the wall, and a third was sitting in a chair by the window.

"Hey, she's up," the person with the white thing said.

I squinted at the individual. They sounded female, and familiar. Ten-Ten, maybe? I couldn't tell. My contacts were out, so everything was blurry anyway.

"Ten-Ten?" I asked. "Is that you?"

"Yes. Are you ok? Your heart rate and blood pressure is really high."

I remembered the dream and shuddered.

"Just a nightmare," I grumbled. "A really scary nightmare."

"Oh. Are you feeling better?"

My headache suddenly came back, and I felt tired again. I closed my eyes and put a hand to my head.

"How long have I been out?" I managed to ask.

"Only a few hours," a voice replied.

A confident, male voice. Hm…Neji?

"Oh…where's Angel?"

There was a bark.

_Right here._

"M'kay then."

And with that, I slipped back into unconsciousness.

**(A/N: I decided you might want to know what's going through Lilian's mind and see how she views the world, so for now on, I'm going to switch perspectives for maybe a better understanding on what's going on. Every time you see a double enter space, it means we're switching from me to her or from her to me. Got it? Good. The next one will be the first one of Lilian in first person. Whoot! Okay, on with the story!)**

I can't remember much. I don't even know why the hell I'm in a fucking hospital. I hate hospitals…and doctors. They remind me of my dentist, who is unmistakably evil.

The only thing I can manage to pull from my brain is me, Madeline, and her dog, Angel's the name I think, fighting some gianormous shark-looking dude. He's part of the Akatsuki, right? Or was it the evil character that looks like Michael Jackson? Damn it, I can't get all of the fucking characters straight except for Hinata and Neji, who I obviously live with, that annoying Naruto, Kakashi, and the emo-king Sasuke.

I don't even know why I'm here. It was just some freak accident. I guess this world is alright. I mean, I don't have to worry about stupid school, piano lessons, Chinese school, and my mom constantly nagging at me to keep my grades up. I bet Madeline thinks it's a riot being here.

Speaking of which, she hasn't been herself lately. She's too…I don't know, maybe the word I'm looking for is moody? Bitchy would be another good word. Well, Madeline has always been the quiet one in the group that gets a short temper once in a while, but I mean all the time? She's always cussing if criticizing something, but that's it. Maybe the excitement is getting to her head or something, I'll never know.

It seemed like years had passed when I finally managed to open my eyes. Hinata was sitting on a small wooden stool next to my bed, twiddling her thumbs and Neji was leaning up against the wall, arms crossed over chest. When Hinata saw that I was awake, she smiled.

"Oh, hey Lilian," she said, not stuttering at all. "Are you feeling better?"

"Where the hell am I?" I groaned.

Hinata had grown used to my daily cussing, so I guess it didn't bother her anymore like it used to.

"You're in the hospital. You and Madeline blacked out when you were fighting and you were brought here by Jiraya-sama and Gai sensei."

"Who were we fighting?"

"Itatchi Uchiha and Kisame," Neji replied.

"Who?" I raised an eyebrow.

"Members of the Akatsuki," he explained. "From what I understand, they had come to the village in search of Naruto, and the legend of the tailed beasts."

I rolled my eyes. The news was _so_ old now. I hear it everywhere now.

"Oh, so where's Madeline? And Sasuke?"

"In a different recovery room," Hinata replied. "The doctors can't figure out when she'll wake up. The same with Sasuke."

"Wait, you mean she hasn't woken up yet? How long have we been out?"

"About a day or two," Neji said. "Madeline had the Mangekyo Sharingan used on her to lure you two by Itatchi, so there's no telling when she'll come out of it. From what I've heard, she keeps drifting in and out of consciousness. It's the same with Sasuke."

I stayed silent and fiddled with the bed sheets. This was the second time my friend had been sent to the hospital due to injury. I bet she'll blame bad luck for what's happened…she always does.

"So when do I get outta here?" I finally asked, changing the subject.

"The doctor said you should rest for at least a couple of days, but you can leave whenever you feel like it," Hinata said.

I nodded and sank back into the pillows. If I took a nap now, then I should have enough energy to get back to the Hyuuga household by tomorrow morning.

The dream was the same again: darkness, patch of square light, bad memory. This time, it was at my grandpa's funeral. I was dressed in black and was very itchy and hot. Some tears were forming in my eyes, even though I never knew my grandpa. I wiped them away, became uncomfortable, and tugged at my blouse's silky sleeve. My mom pulled me into a hug. Okay, awkward human contact. Time to end this memory before I hurl. I closed my eyes.

My eyes slowly opened and I realized that I was still in the hospital room. Only one person was in here now, and they were still sitting by the window. They had their eyes closed; at least I think they did. They opened up an eye when I lifted my head.

"Oh, you're up again," it sounded like Shikamaru.

I nodded, and realized that I was extremely thirsty.

"Shikamaru?" I rasped.

"Hm?" Okay good, it was him.

"Can I please have some water?"

I heard him sigh.

"I guess so, hold on."

He left through the door and reentered a few seconds later with a plastic cup in his hand. Why did he complain? Was it really that big of a deal to do a favor for someone who can barely mobilize? He handed it to me and I slowly sipped it. When I was done, I suddenly had the powerful urge to pee.

"Where's the bathroom?"

"Down the hallway, the first door to your right," Shikamaru pointed out the door.

I nodded and pulled off the sheets. I was dressed in my gray skull patterned PJ top with my green and red trimmed PJ sweat bottoms with a silhouette of a girl holding the Green Day grenades. Hm…Ten-Ten must've grabbed them from my backpack and took my ninja clothes home to wash or something. I got up, took a step, and stumbled. I caught myself with my hand against the wall.

"You okay?" Shikamaru asked with an undertone of…worry? That's weird. Why would he worry about me? We're basically friends, but not like best friends.

"Yeah, I'm fine," I mumbled.

I pushed off the wall with my hand and half stumbled, half power-walked to the restroom. After my bladder was empty, I made my way back to the room, keeping close to the wall. I crawled into the covers and curled into a ball.

"Shikamaru?" my voice sounded muffled against the blankets.

"Hm?"

"Can you open the window? It's a little stuffy in here."

"What?"

I poked my head out of the blankets and repeated what I had just said. Shikamaru nodded, walked over, and slid the window open. I smiled and nodded a thank you, closed my eyes, and drifted back to sleep.

I woke up to the sounds of birds chirping and the rising sun blasting in my face. I groggily sat up and sleepily looked around the room. The window right next to my bed was halfway open, giving me a view of the pink sunrise. An early morning breeze slid in and wrapped around my body, making me shiver and dive back into the sheets.

I knew I wouldn't be able to fall back asleep, so I reached over to the wooden stand and started searching it with my hand for my glasses. But then it hit me that I could see perfectly in this world and didn't have glasses. Groaning, I pulled my weapon pouch from the stand into my lap and searched it until I found my iPod Video. I listened to Linkin Park, my feet tapping the mattress to the beat of the music. I must've half-sat, half-lay there for quite a while, because before I knew it, my nurse was serving me breakfast and checking my temperature. After she left, Neji entered and sat on a stool next to my bed.

"So, are you better to come home or what?" he asked.

I shrugged and bit into my apple.

"You wanna leave after you finish eating?"

I nodded, swallowing apple chunks and peeling a banana.

"Can you even talk, or did Itatchi Uchiha rip your voice box out?"

I shrugged again.

"I don't know," I groaned. "I don't really feel like talking. I'm tired and I'm eating."

"Hah! You just talked! That means you _do_ feel like talking!"

"Shut up," I growled, knowing perfectly well that he was right. "I don't feel like dealing with your shit right now."

"You don't feel like doing anything. That's how much of a lazy ass you are."

"Yeah, but not as much as dick like yourself!"

"Damn, and here I thought you were already a bitch. Apparently, I was wrong."

"And I thought you were a douche bag! But, you actually turned out to be a destiny-obsessed man-whore!"

This is how it always is. We dislike each other so much that we cuss each other out until we have nothing else to say.

Beaten, Neji got up from his chair and headed for the door.

"C'mon," he growled. "Everyone is waiting at home."

I quickly got dressed in my ninja clothing in the washroom and followed Neji out of the room, throwing my apple core and banana peel in the trash on the way out. We stopped at the reception desk, checking me out of the hospital, before walking out of the double doors.

"So, when is Madeline getting out of the hospital?" I asked, taking a last glance at the hospital.

"As soon as Lady Tsunade gets back," Neji replied monotonously. "Who knows when that'll be, but Naruto went after her, so it should be soon."

I nodded and we entered the Hyuuga neighborhood. All of the relatives from both sides of the family greeted me on the way to the Main Household house. As we approached the house, I heard the door behind the front door slide open. The sounds of locks being unlocked could be heard and the main front door creaked open slightly. Hanabi's brown little head poked out and a smile spread across her face.

"Father! Lilian's home!" she cried happily.

She raced towards me and gave me a bear hug around the waist. I froze, my arms stiff. Never before had any of my siblings hugged me. They were too busy studying for college, partying, or going out with their boyfriends.

Very aware that Lord Hiashi would be coming outside any second, I awkwardly wrapped my arms around Hanabi's tiny shoulders and smiled slightly.

"We were worried," Hiashi said, walking up to us, Hinata tailing behind. "But it seems like you didn't get any serious injuries. Come inside and we'll get you something to eat. Hospital food never fills you up no matter what they serve."

Hanabi followed her father back inside once I finally managed to pry her arms off me. Hinata smiled at me and Neji didn't even glance my way and they too disappeared with me close behind. I took off my sandals and walked on the thin wooden flooring that encircled the entire house. I found the door to the kitchen and slid it open. There, the four Hyuuga members were just sitting on their knees and waiting for the food to arrive. I took my seat next to Neji and gladly accepted a bowl of rice that was given to me by a servant. I even said thank you with a smile when I was given a plate of egg rolls and bowl of miso soup.

It turned out that I'm one of the slowest eaters on the planet. By the time I had finished half my bowl of rice and all of the egg rolls, Hiashi, Hanabi, and Hinata had finished eating, gotten up, and left, leaving just me and Neji. I glanced at the clock to see what time it was and caught him looking at me. I ignored it, but soon realized he was _staring_ at me.

"Whagh you loogin agth?" I said through a mouthful of egg roll and rice.

A smirk spread across his face and he started cracking up.

"I never knew…you could be…this stupid!" he said in between laughs.

"What?" I asked after swallowing.

He shook his head and continued to laugh.

"Dammit! What the hell is so funny?"

"You have food all over your face!" Neji managed to get out.

I felt the heat rise to my face as I swiped a napkin from the table and wiped my mouth. I glared at Neji when he was still busting a gut.

"Alright, I get it already!" I growled, punching him in the shoulder.

"God, you don't have to be so violent," he groaned, rubbing his arm.

"Yes I do."

"Then I guess that means you're another one of those weird tomboys."

"No, I'm more emo than tomboy. Consider Madeline the tomboy, not me."

"Whatever, there isn't much of a difference."

"Yes there is!" I shot back. "I'm obsessed with black stuff and death and Madeline just doesn't give a shit about anything and wears clothes that look boyish!"

"Whatever, I don't care."

My right eyebrow twitched and I flipped him off before heading to my room.

"Lilian! Wake up!" a voice cut through my sleep.

I stirred and opened an eye. From where I was lying, I managed to spot Hinata looking up at me. Sum 41 was still playing through my earphones and I pulled one out.

"What?" I groaned, lifting my head up.

"Tsunade just passed through the village gates," she replied, panting. "She's heading over to the hospital right now. I figured you might want to see Madeline when she wakes up."

I opened my other eye, yawned, and nodded. I had fallen asleep in the giant oak tree in the Hyuuga's garden. _Garden_ would actually be too small of a word. The Main Hyuuga house had a beautiful garden of rocks, shrubs, trees, and a tiny stream that wrapped around the entire compound. Oaks, weeping willows, and cherry blossom trees dotted the entire interior of the garden. A training ground was right in the middle of the building.

I swung my legs over the side of the branch and landed lightly on the ground. We met up with Neji on the way to the neighborhood's gate and headed towards the hospital.

Like the last couple of times, the 'dream/darkness' was the same. This time, however, I was going through the memories I had already experienced here. Just from seeing those, made me feel horrible.

After, there were even _more_ bad memories with a mixture of tornado nightmares: me cracking my chin open when I was one, getting kicked in the face from a person in a swing when I was two, giving away our first dog, Princess, a one year old shih-tzu (her eyes were too big for her skull and it was too risky to have her in the house. Like, if she accidentally crashed into a wall or door, her eyes would pop out), being yelled at by my mom for getting an 89.5 (B+) in P.E. just because I missed _one_ run and didn't make it up, and a bunch of other memories that made me feel even worse.

Suddenly, I felt a tingling sensation in my forehead, then my temples, and finally my entire head was all prickly-feeling. My body also started to feel warm, as if I was just wrapped in a wool blanket and placed next to a roaring fireplace. I blinked.

I opened my eyes and found someone's hand on my forehead with a lime-green light surrounding it. The tingling ended, the light faded, and the hand removed from my head. I then could finally see that I was back in the hospital, and that my room was full of people.

"Awesome!" a hyper voice cried. "She's up! Thanks, Grandma Tsunade!"

"What?" I yawned.

Something suddenly jumped onto my stomach and licked my cheek. Angel, obviously.

_FINALLY! God, it took you long enough to wake up! You've been out for like, a week or something!_

"Yeah, well, you didn't have the Mangekyo Sharingan used on you, so shut up," I growled as I sat up and rubbed my eyes with the back of my wrist.

I glanced sleepily around the room. The room had quite a few people in it: Naruto, Ten-Ten, Lilian, Neji, Kakashi, Shikamaru, Angel, and a big-boobed, blonde haired woman.

_Why are there so many people? _I thought, irritated already.

"Madeline, Grandma Tsunade here just healed you!" Naruto exclaimed.

"Yeah…that's nice Naruto…tell someone who actually gives a shit…" I yawned, still half-asleep. "So, how long have I been out?"

"Ten days," Neji replied coolly.

I winced. That was probably since the last time I woke up. In all, it must've been around two weeks or so.

"I thought it would be something like that. Well then, I'm going outside to get some fresh air. It's freezing and stuffy in here."

I tugged off the sheets, put on my DC shoes, stood up, and my legs gave way. Naruto caught my arm so I wouldn't fall and pulled me back up. I muttered thanks and set off for the restroom, but grabbed my brush, deodorant, tweezers, eyeliner, toothbrush, soap, shampoo, razor, and towel from Ten-Ten. I enjoyed a ten minute shower and when I got out, I eyed the scale, pulled it out, and stepped on it. The little digits read 110 pounds.

"What. The. Hell." I stared at the numbers. "I lost weight?"

I smiled happily, pushed the thought out of my mind, and then spent at least fifteen minutes getting dressed in my black INFAMOUS shirt, slightly baggy pants, brushing out my ratty hair, brushing my teeth, plucking the black hairs that had appeared above my thin eyebrows, putting on onyx eyeliner, and smudging on deodorant.

I strolled out of the bathroom and started to make my way to the front of the hospital.

_Wait for me!!_

I turned and Angel skidded to a halt at my feet. Naruto came running up behind her.

"Hey, Madeline," he panted. "Grandma Tsunade said that maybe you should rest a little longer."

I was about to say something, but I spotted something from the corner of my eye, and I turned my head.

A blue-eyed face with long and messy, blonde hair was staring at me from a window. Freckles dotted the bridge of his nose and upper part of the cheeks. He caught my stare and gave me a stupid grin.

Angel followed my gaze and froze. She then dashed down the hall with me close behind her. We sprinted past the reception desk and out the glass sliding doors. Angel stopped in the middle of the street and sniffed while I looked around.

I watched everyone in Madeline's room leave the room to go chase after my friend, leaving just me and Neji. I walked over to the window and opened it up. Neji joined me and we heard Naruto call Madeline. She quickly glanced behind her at everyone running towards her, but Angel barked and she jumped onto a roof and they disappeared from sight.

"We better go see what she's up to," Neji sighed, heading for the door.

I rolled my eyes.

"She'll be fine," I said confidently. "I've known her since fourth grade. She's not the type to go off looking for trouble."

"But Angel was sniffing and then she barked. She must've picked up something."

"But why would she go after them if they're an enemy?"

"That's why we're going to find out. Now get off your ass and let's go."

With that he left, forcing me to run after him to catch up.

This better be worth my time.

As Angel and I jumped from roof to roof, I was very aware that everyone was following me, because I saw Kakashi's shadow behind me, but that didn't stop me. Angel led me to a small grassy hill that was below the Hokage Mountain and above the Hokage's Office. She stopped and sniffed again.

_The scent stops here. It doesn't lead anywhere else._

"Maybe that Mangekyo Sharingan is still making me delusional," I sighed, scratching my head. "I guess we'll wait then. But while we're here, we might as well enjoy the nice weather and relax a bit."

_Okay, whatever._

She trotted through the long flowing grass and dug her nose in the sweet smelling dirt. I giggled as she froze when she spotted some butterflies and then started to chase them. She soon gave up and retired to the grass, where she buried herself in the overlapping blades and seemed to drift asleep. I then switched my gaze to the village.

"RAWR!" someone suddenly tackled to me to the ground. Guess who?

"What the hell?!" I yelled as we rolled down the hill.

All I saw as the world spun was blue eyes, a flash of blond hair, and a small silver stud earring.

"Noah?!" I cried as I rolled. "Is that you?"

"Who else you retard?" was his only reply.

I smiled to myself as we reached the bottom. Noah let go of my waist, rolled onto his back, and laughed while I dizzily sat up and giggled. Angel suddenly leaped into the air, jumped over my brother's body, and started to pull his hair with her teeth.

"Angel, stop!" Noah said as his hands reached out to grab her.

I laughed as he failed miserably and Angel just chewed on his hands. When she was done playing with him, she lay down in the grass between us. I looked at my brother up and down. He was wearing a fishnet shirt and brown pants with a thigh pouch and shuriken holster. Black sandals were attached to his feet and he still wore that silver stud earring in the upper part of his right ear.

"Where have you been all this time?!" I finally asked, pulling Noah into a hug. "Do you know who worried I've been?"

"It's a long, confusing story," he replied, hugging me back.

"Don't worry, I have time."

And so that's what he did: he told me.

Noah was sucked into the Naruto world like me and Angel, and ended up in the Hidden Sand Village. He spent what money he had on him on his clothes and a backpack to carry food, water, and other supplies, and stayed in the Sand Village for about four days.

Luckily, he remembered from sometimes watching Naruto episodes and hearing me say that the Leaf Village was probably my favorite village, so he hired a Jounin to escort him here. It took him about a week to get to the Leaf Village, and when he did get there, he met Kankurou (who hadn't left with Temari and Gaara after the Chuunin Exams yet for some unknown reason.), Shikamaru and Kiba, and stayed with Shikamaru at the Nara Ranch.

I smiled when I heard this. Noah was so the type to live on a ranch. He wouldn't work though, just explore the place and play with his soccer ball in the fields. He might also just play or hang out with whatever animals the ranch possesses.

Because of living with Shikamaru, Noah was introduced to Asuma and was told the same thing as me and Lilian were told by Kakashi. What pissed me off though was that Shikamaru or Asuma didn't tell me that Noah was here. He has been living there for about six or seven days, and I was clueless! I'll give them a piece of my mind later.

Angel yawned and crawled into Noah's lap.

_Is Shikamaru's ranch really spacey and stuff?_

Noah gave her a questioning look.

"She wants to know if Shikamaru's place is really wide," I translated to my brother.

"How can you understand her?!"

I explained to him about my stay here, what had happened, and most importantly, Houkou. When I was done, Noah asked if he had a demon inside him.

"I don't know," I shrugged. "We'll have to check later. For the meantime, we should start at the Academy and learn the basic stuff and…yeah."

Noah nodded and stood up.

"Okay, I think I'll head back to Shikamaru's place and hang for a while," he said.

"M'kay, see ya."

I got up and ruffled his hair.

"Wait, where's the ranch?" I asked. "I want to know just in case Angel and I want to come and visit you."

"See that mountain?" he pointed to the mountain where the Hokage's heads were carved.

"Yeah?"

"There's a trail in the forest below there that leads to a giant brown gate. A guard is there and he'll ask you who you are and why you are there. Just tell him that you're my sister and a friend of Shikamaru's. He'll then let you in automatically."

I nodded, waved, and watched him walk down the rest of the hill and out of sight. I then climbed back to the top of the hill; lied down in the soft grass, put my hands behind my head, and closed my eyes. I hadn't even sat down for a minute when I felt someone's presence. I decided to ignore it, but soon got irritated, so I got up and walked down the hill again.

As I made my way down, I spotted a flash of yellow hair and a blue mask. Damn it. Naruto and Kakashi probably saw and heard everything. Well…maybe they didn't hear anything, but they most likely saw everything.

I brushed that thought away and made my way towards the park. Maybe a nice walk or swinging on a swing would take everything off my mind.

I jumped down from the tree I was sitting in and watched Madeline make her way down the hill with Angel running ahead. Neji emerged from a bush a couple of yards away.

"Well, that takes care of that," I said, pretending to dust my hands off.

"Who…was that?" Neji asked.

"Oh, that was her younger brother, Noah. They're close. Really close. From what I know, Madeline was with her brother in her world before she came here. And then when she got transported here, Noah didn't show up with her. I'm guessing that's why she's been acting so…grumpy lately. Now that he's here, maybe she'll get back to her quiet, careless, bitchy self."

"I guess we should be heading back home then," Neji said after an awkward silence.

"Yeah," I agreed, gazing up at the sky. "…I'll race you there, or are you too scared that you'll lose?"

"There's no way in hell I'd lose to a girl," Neji replied.

"You wanna bet?"

"You're on," he smirked.

The next morning, my alarm went off again…early. There was no use trying to fall back to sleep, so I decided to go look for Lilian at about one in the afternoon. I wanted to get a move on, on learning the basic ninja stuff, and I didn't feel like sitting with nine year olds. Knowing her, she was most likely lying around like a useless lump over at Hinata's house.

Sighing, I lazily walked over to the Hyuuga clan's…erm…house and knocked on the front door. Surprisingly, Neji answered it.

"What do you want?" he asked monotonously.

"Is Lilian here?" I ignored his remark. "I suspect she's lying around on her lazy ass doing absolutely nothing."

Neji nodded and told Hinata to go get Lilian. As we waited, Angel recognized Neji and jumped into his arms. He smirked, and petted her head.

"So, what was that scene all about on the hill yesterday?" he finally asked, breaking the silence.

"What?" I looked at him.

"You heard me."

"Um…well…" I could fell the heat rising to my cheeks. "Remember when you guys first found me, and I asked where Noah was?"

He nodded.

"Well, that was him, Noah is his name. When I first got here, I couldn't find him, and I got really freaked out and stuff."

"Is that why you were so…antisocial?"

"I'm usually antisocial, but basically, yeah."

"Basically, what?" Lilian appeared next to Neji.

"Nothing," I replied. "C'mon let's go."

Lilian sighed and walked away with me.

"So, where are we going?" she asked.

"I want to get some of those ninja skills out of the way, so let's go find Kakashi or someone."

"You do that. I'm gonna go off somewhere else."

"No, I'm not letting you procrastinate this time, considering the fact that our lives are and will be in danger."

"Ugh, fine."

"Good. Now we should get Noah so he can be our third member."

"Why don't you do that, and I'll stay here?"

"No, why don't you?"

"No, you."

"You!"

"YOU!"

"Fine," I growled. "I'll go get him, but you should at least _try_ to find Kakashi or someone. If not, just meet us at the training ground three."

She nodded and left me to walk to the forest Noah had described. I easily found the trail and hiked up it. Angel jumped off my shoulder and sniffed for Noah's scent.

_Yeah, we're going the right way. Just keep following the trail, and we'll soon be there._

I nodded, turned on my iPod, scrolled to the band Pennywise, and continued. She was right; soon enough, we approached the giant wooden gate. A tall wooden tower was perched from the inside of the property.

"Halt! Who are you and what is your business here?" a voice called.

I didn't hear him, so I just continued listening to the music. Angel nudged me with her nose. I put the song I was listening to on pause and glanced at her. She nodded to the tower and the voice repeated what he had said earlier. I squinted and saw a Leaf Village shinobi glaring at me.

"I'm Madeline and this is my dog, Angel. Maybe you know me as Noah's sister and Shikamaru's friend?"

"Ah, yes, Noah's sister. Great personality, just too much energy. You here to visit him?"

"Yeah."  
"Alright, I'll let you in."

He disappeared for a few seconds, and the gate opened up. I took some steps forward and looked around. A dirt path led to a barn that was in pretty good shape and to a long, giant house. Beyond the farmhouse were countless pastures and fields. I took in a deep whiff of the air and the sweet smell of pine filled my nostrils.

"He's most likely in one of those fields playing with that ball of his," the guard informed me.

I nodded and started down the path. Angel scampered ahead of me, jumped into the tiny meadow to my right, and frolicked in the flowing grass.

When we passed the barn, all I heard were moos, squeals, quacks, and other sounds I can't describe; and all I could smell was hay. The path split off to the barn, and the farmhouse, but the some of the grass out to the fields was trodden. I could spot a figure moving around quickly a field or two away from the farmhouse, so I decided to walk over.

The first field we passed was dotted with fuzzy, white sheep and the occasional horse. When we got near the second, I dropped to my stomach and ground-crawled through the long grass.

Soon, I heard feet against a ball and I froze. Noah's shadow loomed over me, but thankfully, his back was turned. This was my chance for a little payback. I grabbed his bare ankle and yanked forward. Noah fell back on his chest, but unfortunately, the grass cushioned his fall. Some sort of payback.

"Madeline," Noah growled. "What the hell was that for?!"

I got up and grinned.

"Just a little revenge for tackling me and making me roll down that hill," I replied.

Noah didn't say anything and just rolled his eyes.

"So, what are you doing here?" he asked.

"I was bored, plus, I need you to train with me, Lilian, and possibly Kakashi."

"When?"

"Maybe today or tomorrow."

Noah stayed silent and thought about it.

"Okay, but only if you play with me until three."

I glanced at the time on my iPod, and it read 2:00 pm. An hour of playing goalie won't be so hard. I nodded, took off my sandals, and got into goalie position between a shrub and a tree stump.

Noah kicked the soccer ball with the inside of his bare foot and I easily stopped it with my foot. I threw it back and he trapped it with his chest. He then lazily kicked it again. I knew he was just warming me up, and trying to let me think that this was all he was gonna give me; but I knew better. He was trying to get me to let my guard down so he could score. Yeah right, in his dreams.

I threw it back once more and Noah turned it up a notch. He ran towards me, sliced and diced the ball, and then shot it. I moved in the other direction, but hurriedly stuck out my left foot to stop him from scoring. Angel decided to play and nudged the ball with her nose.

"You gotta think of some new tricks," I tossed the ball back. "They're starting to get old."

"Hm…maybe," Noah smirked.

I sighed and entered the bookstore, listening to my iPod. I had already checked Kakashi's apartment, Teahouse, and the training grounds where the monument of the deceased Leaf shinobi was to look for Kakashi, but I couldn't find him anywhere.

"He better be here," I muttered to myself, walking down each aisle.

The bookstore was the last place I knew where to look. I knew from my sister that Kakashi always reads those perverted books, so I thought he might be reading one of them here.

I reached the last aisle and came up with nothing. Damn it. He wasn't here either.

"I guess we'll just have to train on our own," I sighed. "Oh well."

"Looking for someone?" a voice asked from behind me.

"What the fuck?!" I flinched and whipped around.

Kakashi was leaning up against a bookshelf I had just passed, reading Make-out Paradise. When the hell did he get there?!

"I've seen you everywhere around the village," he said. "It looks like you're looking for something. Need anything?"

"You were stalking me?!"

"No, I just happened to be in the places you were," Kakashi smiled, or so I thought.

"Whatever," I rolled my eyes and pulled out an earphone. "Here's the deal: Madeline, Noah, and I want to be on a team so we can start training. And we would like you to be our sensei, if you aren't busy."

"Where's Madeline?"

"She went off to find Noah."

"So I guess that means we'll start once they get back."

"Yeah, I guess."

"Okay, we should just head over to the training grounds and wait for them," Kakashi kept his eyes on his book and started to make his way towards the exit of the store.

I nodded, turned on my iPod again, and followed him out.

I lay down on the grass and watched Angel look for butterflies.

"Okay, hour's up, Noah," I yawned. "Now you're coming with me, right now, to train. So let's get…"

"NOAH!" a female voice called from like eighty miles away. "LUNCH IS READY!!"

Noah looked over in the direction of the farmhouse.

"Alright!!" he shouted back.

"Please bring back Shikamaru back while you're at it!!"

"Okay!"

I turned to him with a confused look on my face.

"You eat late," I raised my eyebrows at him.

"Reminds you of home, doesn't it?"

"Yeah." A wave of nostalgia hit me like a sledgehammer.

"Do you wanna have something with us?"

"I guess. I haven't eaten anything yet."

"Okay, I'll go tell Mrs. Nara, and you go find Shikamaru. He's probably in that field over there."

He pointed to a grassy area not too far from where we were. I sighed, put my sandals back on, and started in the general direction. Angel pranced ahead, her nose to the ground, feeling the need to smell every single speck of dirt and blade of grass. I rolled my eyes, but smiled at the same time.

_The ways of a dog are so strange, _I thought.

I glanced at the sky. It was a crystal blue accompanied by fluffy, white clouds that were moving at a calming speed. They just looked so peaceful there, going wherever the wind took them.

My foot suddenly stubbed against something, making me trip. I landed on my hands and knees and silently cursed to myself.

"What a drag…watch where you're going, Madeline," a lazy voice groaned.

I turned my head and realized I had tripped over Shikamaru, who was lying on the grass, his hands behind his head, and his eyes closed.

"You knew I was here?" I asked.

I sat up and leaned back on my arms, my palms to the ground, supporting myself.

"Yep," he opened one eye and smiled.

Angel cocked her head and I raised an eyebrow.

"So, you've been like watching us the whole time?"

"Yeah, and I saw you yesterday."

"You did?"

"Yep, and speaking of which, how do you know Noah? He just came here about a week ago from the Sand Village, and this is his first time here."

"You know, Shikamaru, they say you have an IQ over 200, but sometimes you act like you barely have one that's of 50."

"What's that supposed to mean?"

"God…just look at both of us and tell me if you see any similarities."

Shikamaru stared at me for a long time, and then suddenly, a look of understanding dawned upon his face.

"Wait, so you and Noah are…?" he trailed off.

"Exactly. He's my brother," I nodded. "Before I got here, I was with him and Angel at the park by our house. Then, when I was sent here, he wasn't with us, so I started getting freaked out and…yeah."

Shikamaru stayed silent and Angel trotted over to him. Without even looking, he lifted his hand and scratched her behind the ears.

"Do you guys hug like that whenever you haven't seen each other in a long time?" he finally asked.

I turned to him and looked at him like he was crazy.

"Of course," I turned back. "He's like my best friend ever! He's…oh, never mind, you wouldn't understand. You don't have any siblings."

Shikamaru opened his mouth to say something, but I interrupted.

"You know, you're so lucky, Shikamaru. You don't have anything to worry about, unlike me. You don't have a younger brother and sister to look after, going to their soccer practices and games, your parents nagging at you to keep up your straight A grades, flag football practice, art class, piano lessons, girl scouts, Chinese school, and homework. You also don't have to deal with seeing your brother all beat and bruised up all the time, your sister having about 50 absent seizures a day, your mom with her heart problems, and hearing basically just everyone yelling all the time. You can just relax all day here and do absolutely nothing… Sometimes…I wish all those things were gone and I could do what you do."

Shikamaru glanced at me, and I could tell he was…um, surprised. I leaned back, put my hands behind my head, and closed my eyes.

"Even when I am here, I worry," I mumble, my eyes still closed. "I worry my mom might be having a heart attack. I worry my little sister might be having an absent seizure. I worry that my dad is making just enough money to pay the bills…"

I trailed off, for I was being hit with another wave of nostalgia.

"Maddie…I…" Shikamaru started.

"MADELINE! SHIKAMARU!!" it was Noah's voice. "Come on! Time to eat!!"

I sighed, got up, let Angel climb onto my shoulder, and looked at Shikamaru. He rolled his eyes, probably mad that he was interrupted. He then stood up himself and led me to the house. As we got closer, I realized it was a one story house, but it was extremely long. The front porch was wooden, and creaked slightly as we stepped inside the doorway.

"Oh, you must be Madeline!" a sweet voice cried.

I turned and saw a tall woman in a white apron smiling at me. Her brown hair was pulled into a bun, but some loose strands hung in her face.

"Yeah," I replied. "I'm Noah's sister."

"It's so good to finally meet you!" she pulled me into a bone-crushing hug.

"Uh…you too?"

"So, would you like to join us for lunch?"

"Okay, sure. Thank you."

"What about your dog, Angel? Is she hungry?"

I turned to her and she wagged her tail excitedly.

_Hell yeah!_

"Yes."

"Ok, then. It'll be right out. Shikamaru, be a gentlemen, and show her to the table."

"What a drag," he muttered. "Come on."

Shikamaru escorted me out of the room and into a small dining room. There was a nice wooden table and chairs with a giant window behind them, so you could see part of the fields and mountains. Noah was already sitting, slurping up some miso soup. He waved and I waved back while taking my seat.

Mrs. Nara came in and set down my own bowl of miso soup along with a plate of rice balls and a cup of steaming green tea. Okay, either she can totally read my mind, or Noah told her my one of my favorite Asian food.

I took a bite out of one of the rice balls. They didn't have any meat or anything in them, perfect. Mrs. Nara set down a plate pilled with steaming chicken and a bowl of water on the ground. Angel barked happily and dug in.

After I had finished the three rice balls, miso soup, and tea, I waited for Noah, who was still eating his rice. Finally, he was done. We got up, brought the dishes to the sink in the kitchen, and started towards the porch.

"Oh, are you two leaving?" Mrs. Nara asked.

"Yeah," I replied. "We're going to go train."

"Ok, then. Be careful and have fun."

I nodded, waved, and headed down the mountain with Noah and Angel at my heels. We hiked down the trail and traveled to training ground three.

Finally, we arrived there. Lilian was sitting on a tree stump, looking bored as ever, and whatdaya know? Kakashi was perched in a tree, reading that pervy book of his.

"Finally," Lilian got up. "Do you have any idea how long we've been waiting?"

"Sorry," I growled. "I had to hike up a freakin' mountain and then he made me play soccer with him."

"Well, we're all here, so let's begin," Kakashi jumped down from the tree. "We'll do a quick introduction first, although I'm sure you three all know each other pretty well. My name is Kakashi Hatake."

"Um, I'm Madeline," I shrugged. "Noah is my brother and I like to draw and paint, which I'm pretty good at. My dream is to become an artist. I also like to play sports like football and train, but sometimes I just like to relax and listen to rock and metal music. I despise anything that screams girly, the government who isn't doing anything about anything, large amounts of people in an area, and annoying, loud people."

Kakashi smiled and motioned for Noah's turn.

"I'm Noah!" my brother smiled cheerfully. "I love to play soccer and be outside!! I want to become a professional soccer player!! I also like to pull pranks on people and crack up jokes!!"

"Don't forget acting like a crazed maniac," I added.

Kakashi looked from Noah to me.

"You two don't seem like your related," he remarked. "You both have completely different personalities and look nothing alike."

"He's more like our mom than I am," I shrugged. "She's very...um…social and friendly. Whereas I'm more like my dad: cool, calm, and collected. He's quiet and probably wouldn't make a very good impression if you just glanced at him."

"Yeah, and not to mention they both need anger management and curse control," Noah laughed.

I glared at him, but before something started, Kakashi let Lilian go.

"I'm…Lilian," she said slowly. "Um…I don't really have a dream and I can't think of anything I really like except for maybe the computer and walking around outside. I hate the same stuff as Madeline, except I don't hold grudges as much…and that's it."

Kakashi nodded and looked at us.

"Now that we all know each other, we'll start. You all three should get the hang of this easily, so we're going to move fast."

"Why?" I asked.

"Because you all three have demons inside you, which means you have a massive amount of chakra. Controlling will be pretty tough, but I'm sure it'll all come to be easy for you."

"Huh?" Noah raised an eyebrow. "What do you mean?"

"Madeline has the five tailed dog, Lilian the two tailed cat, and you the six tailed weasel, Raijuu. I'll explain later. Now, calm yourself, focus all of your energy to your stomach, and make this hand sign."

He performed the hand sign that I had made earlier against Kisame. I closed my eyes, formed the hand sign, and focused my chakra to my stomach. I felt a tingling sensation and I looked up at Kakashi.

"Good," he smiled, or so I thought. "You all are controlling your chakra. Now, try moving the chakra to different parts of your body."

I sat down on the grass and continued to focus my chakra. Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Noah and Lilian do the same, and Kakashi sit in the shade of a tree, reading that book. I suddenly lost control, felt it retract, and sat there confused.

"Don't lose your focus, Madeline," Kakashi called out, not looking up from his book.

My eyebrows furrowed and I concentrated harder.

"Now what?" Noah asked about six hours later. "I'm bored and I can move my chakra to every part of my body."

Lilian and I nodded in agreement. I was pretty confident in myself with moving chakra to my body parts, but I was still worried about messing up, considering the fact that I lose my focus after about fifteen minutes. It seemed like Lilian and Noah were having the same problems as me, but not as much, which surprised me. Noah has a very short attention span and Lilian never really tries.

"Alright then," Kakashi stood up. "Time to learn hand signs. You will use these when performing Nin or Genjutsu. Now, the first one is the rat."

He cupped his right hand over his left hand. We did the same. All of the hand signs were pretty easy, except for maybe the horse and monkey. We had to remember _all_ of them, so it took me at least until sunset that I had gotten about three quarters of them memorized.

"Okay, that's enough for today," Kakashi sighed. "Why don't you three take a jog to the end of the forest, and I'll see you here tomorrow at 8:00 am?"

I frowned when he told us the time, but pushed it to the back of my brain, waved, and took off.

I groaned and watched Madeline, Angel, and Noah run off into the woods. I turned around and found that Kakashi was already gone. Sighing, I put my hands in my pockets and started to walk back to the house. I hadn't even been walking for ten minutes when my eyes were covered by someone's hands. Great. So this either the old 'Guess Who?' game or someone is kidnapping me.

"Guess who?" the voice so familiar that I didn't even have to think to know who it was.

"What that hell are you doing here Neji?" I sighed.

"Just thought I'd stop by and see how your training was going, but it seems like you've already finished."

"Is that the real reason, or do you just enjoy seeing me fail?"

"Why the hell would I enjoy seeing you fail?"

"Because it's just like you to feel superior than others," I replied dryly.

"That's not true!"

"Sure it isn't. Am I allowed to see the world now?"

He removed his hands and I resumed my walking with him next to me.

"I saw Madeline and Angel and her brother run by a few minutes ago," Neji remarked. "Why aren't you?"

"Eh, I don't really feel like it," I shrugged. "I'm bad at running."

"No, you just don't try, you lazy ass."

"You can never stop being a dick, can you?"

"I'm starting to wonder how Hinata even convinced her father into allowing you stay at our house when all you do is be a bitch."

I glared at him and he smirked, knowing he was starting to push my buttons.

"If you want me to take that back, then you have to beat me at running back to the house," he smirked.

I looked over at Neji.

"If I win, then you are never allowed to watch us train again," I said. "And you take that back."

"And if I win?" Neji asked.

"……Whatever you want, I guess."

Neji grinned. He actually _grinned_.

"And no using chakra or summoning stamina to your feet," I added. "This is completely based on endurance."

"Fine. To the house?"

"Yep. 1…2…3…GO!!"

We took off on the dirt trail, eager to win.

I was breathing hard and saw the gates of the Hyuuga neighborhood just ahead. Neji, who had been a few yards ahead of me the whole time, noticed this too. I gathered all of the energy I had left and sprinted as fast as I could. Neji must've done the same, because we both crashed into the giant wooden gate at the exact same time and landed on top of each other.

"Ow, goddamit," I groaned, rubbing my head. "Get the hell off me before I get crushed to death!"

Neji rolled off of me and I punched him in the arm as hard as I could.

"That's for convincing me into racing you here," I growled. "For all God knows, I could've gotten a concussion."

"That's how life is," Neji shrugged. "Sometimes you have to take risks and not be so goddamn timid."

"What the fuck? Are you saying that I'm timid?"

"Maybe," he smirked.

"Yeah? Well, you can't…stop…being…a…meanie!"

"A meanie? That's all you can do to insult me? And here I thought you were pathetic enough."

"You know what? Fuck you."

With that I stepped into the house, made my way into the bathroom, and slammed the door shut.

I didn't even get out of bed until 8:20 am. Knowing Kakashi, I took my sweet time getting dressed in my ninja clothing, brushing my teeth, and running a brush through my hair. Angel and I left the condo by 9:00, and didn't arrive at training ground three until at least 9:30.

Noah and Lilian were already there, yawning, looking like they were pissed and exhausted.

"Why weren't you here an hour and a half ago?" Noah asked.

"Because Kakashi is always late, so I slept in and took my time getting ready," I replied.

"I got here about forty-five minutes ago," Lilian muttered. "I know he's late, but I didn't think it would be this late."

Noah rolled his eyes and I yawned widely. I had only been there with them for about fifteen minutes before Kakashi appeared behind us.

"Good morning," he smiled.

"YOU'RE LATE!!" Noah and Lilian screamed.

"Sorry, I came across a black cat and had to take the other way."

We all groaned and he chuckled.

"Alright, why don't you control your chakra and show all the hand signs to me?"

I sighed, pulled my hair back into a very stubby ponytail, and moved my chakra to my feet, hands, and stomach. However, I had some trouble controlling it in my fingertips and when I performed the hand signs; I only got a little more than half right. I didn't feel bad though, Lilian got only about half, and Noah a quarter.

"Hm…you seem to have pretty chakra control, but you need to practice some more. You should also practice those hand signs, because you three don't seem to be remembering them very well. However, considering the pace we're moving at, you're actually doing quite well. What you should do is practice before and after training and on days we don't meet. Once you have them clearly memorized, start working on performing them extremely fast. Now, today, we're going to work on your physical training and target skill."

Three stuffed dummies with painted target signs on their heads and torsos appeared in front of us.

"Go run a mile away from here. When you have, do ten push-ups, 100 sit-ups, twenty five squats, and killers starting at 50. Do these for twenty times, and then run back here. After, you'll each grab a dummy, find a place to set it up, and throw your kunai and shuriken at it. Madeline, keep Angel here. I'm going to work with her. Got it?"

Noah nodded, Lilian groaned, and I sighed. Angel jumped off my shoulder and trotted over to Kakashi. Shrugging, I put in my earphones, turned on Metallica, and jogged off in a random direction. My breathing changed to the rhythm and words of the song as I ran past endless trees, dead leaves, and small puddles.

My watch told me I had run a mile in 7:46, so I stopped in a small clearing. It was only about a couple of yards of space, but whatever. I just needed some space to do all of my exercises. As I was starting my fifteenth set, it occurred to me that Noah was probably only a half mile from being done from training ground three. Because of soccer, he was built like a linebacker and could easily finish a mile in 5:10.

That angered me and made me jealous, so I started to speed up. After I was done, I took about a couple of minutes to relax, and then took off to a tired sort of jog. I knew Noah was most likely done, and if he wasn't, then that was just sad. Lilian was probably in the middle of her exercises, and won't be done for another ten to fifteen minutes.

At half a mile, I picked it up to a sprint-jog, and slowed down at about a quarter left. I walked for about one or two minutes and then picked it up to a full sprint and didn't stop until I appeared back at the training ground. Kakashi was sitting cross-legged on the grass with Angel in front of him, and Noah could be seen by the tree where Naruto and I was booby trapped.

With loud voices, an electric guitar solo, and beating drums blaring in my ears, I walked over to a dummy and picked it up. Looking around, I found a tree a little away from Kakashi, Noah, and Angel, which I actually liked because no one would be able to bother me.

I pinned the dummy with a kunai by the head to the tree to make it stay. Grabbing four kunai in one hand and four shuriken in the other, I threw the weapons at the tree. Five out of the eight weapons made their mark, and the rest got stuck in the bark.

I grabbed some of my needles to test them out again, and also threw them. Not surprisingly, all three needles missed. I shrugged and threw another kunai, but something ripped past my left shoulder, cutting it, and blocked its path. I didn't even hear the soft _CLANG! _and the weapon fell to the ground. My eyes narrowed slightly, and I took out another kunai. I glanced to the right, left, above, behind, and stomped on the ground to check below, but didn't find anyone.

My right arm that was clutching the tiny knife was suddenly grabbed and pulled backwards. My arm bent and the tip of my kunai brushed against the back of my neck. Something then pushed me down and sat on my back, causing me to fall to the ground. The person must've at least one fifty, because I couldn't move at all. My earphones were pulled out.

"Now, what did you just learn?" it was Kakashi's voice.

"That if I fail, you won't hesitate to crush my spine with your weight," I replied.

He laughed a bit.

"No, why didn't you see that attack coming?"

"Because I couldn't hear you?"

"Right. Don't listen to your music when training," he said. "When you run, it's fine."

I pondered the reason for a moment and found the answer.

"Because enemy ninja could sneak up and attack me if I'm training, and I have to be able to hear them?"

"Exactly."

I nodded and he got off me and made his way back to Angel. I stood up, put away my iPod, and continued.

When Madeline said she wanted to start training, I never knew that doing stuff like you do in P.E. would be included.

_Don't be so stupid,_ I told myself. _Of course you knew! You just never wanted to admit it! Instead, you made yourself believe that all you would have to worry about is jutsus._

I finally finished my twentieth set of body shaping exercises and just sat there on the ground, staring into space. I probably rested for about seven minutes before I forced myself to get up and start running back towards the training ground. With Three Days Grace blasting in my eardrums, I yanked a doll up by one of its legs, found a tree, and pinned it by the head.

I hadn't been throwing my kunai at the trunk for five minutes when someone tripped me, pulled both of my arms behind my back with one hand, and held a kunai to my throat with the other.

"Why didn't you see that attack coming?" I realized it was Kakashi talking when he pulled out my earphones.

"Cause I was too busy throwing knives at that fucking dummy to pay attention to my surroundings."

Kakashi chuckled quietly.

"A shinobi can train and make sure there aren't any enemies around at the same time. That's why you have ears."

I finally realized what he was saying and nodded. He then let me go and strolled back to Madeline's dog, who was gnawing on a stick. I sighed and turned back to the tree. This was going to take forever.

I panted and walked over to take the dummy off the tree. Every square inch of the fabric was jabbed or ripped by a kunai, shuriken, or needle. I took out the weapons, put them back in my pouches, and carried the destroyed dummy back over to Kakashi. Angel was sniffing the air, and then ran off. I gave Kakashi a questioning look as I dropped the doll to the ground.

"I'm improving her scent," he said. "Training her so she'll become a tracker."

I nodded and looked around. Noah was sitting on a rock, twirling a shuriken around with a finger, and Lilian could be seen still throwing weapons at her dummy. Angel ran back with a kunai in her mouth. She dropped it at our sensei's feet and he smiled and patted her head.

"Now what?" I asked a couple of minutes later.

"Hm?" Kakashi looked up. "Well, we could have you continue on practicing your chakra control, or your hand signs."

I sighed, sat down on the ground, and went through all of the hand signs. I did a little better and continued to recite them physically and mentally. After about twenty minutes, I heard footsteps and something dropped to the ground.

"Why don't you teach us a simple jutsu?" it was Lilian's voice.

I looked at Kakashi.

"Yeah!" Noah agreed, jumping off the rock.

Kakashi looked from Lilian, to Noah, to Angel, and finally at me. I nodded and he stood up.

"Alright then," he sighed. "I'll teach you three the substitution jutsu, as long as you three show me all of the hand signs first."

We all exchanged looks, and then shrugged.

Lilian was first to go, and she performed most of them at Kakashi's command. He then asked her which hand sign was which as he made them. I was second and actually did quite better this time. I felt like they were starting to stick to my brain in a way. Noah was last, and he mowed through all of them with ease. Lilian and I were shocked when he did better than we did, but we still passed.

"Okay," Kakashi started. "First, gather up some of your chakra and focus it on a particular object. Usually we pick a log of wood for this jutsu. After we have switched, we use our chakra to make the object look like ourselves. Now, throw a shuriken at me."

I looked at the others, took out four shuriken, and they whizzed at him. Kakashi did nothing to dodge the weapons and they hit him full speed. He fell, but there was a puff of smoke, and a log with all of my weapons stuck in it appeared.

"You see?" we whipped around and he stood before us. "It's one of the easiest jutsus to learn, and it's one of the best. But remember this: you can't let an enemy ninja know that you've done the substitution jutsu. You have to do it secretly. Try it out."

I hesitantly put my hands together and focused my chakra onto a log of wood behind me. When I was sure it was there, I imagined it looking like me. I heard a _POOF! _and I turned. The log hadn't even turned into half of me. My sandaled-covered feet were the only thing that I had changed.

I sweat dropped and glanced over at Noah's and Lilian's. Noah's log just showed his head and Lilian's was just standing up.

"Don't worry," Kakashi smiled. "It just takes practice. You'll nail it in no time."

I looked at my log, sighed, and continued.

"Stupid substitution jutsu," I muttered as I once again failed. "Why the hell can't I perform this fucking thing?!"

"You aren't the only one complaining," Madeline groaned. "Taking a shit is fucking easier and faster than this."

"Wow, I haven't heard you say 'shit' and 'fuck' in the same sentence for a long time."

"It's usually when I'm pissed off or when I get hurt," she shrugged.

"Focus you two," Kakashi called out.

We each muttered a whatever and glanced at Noah. He almost had the jutsu down. I groaned and we continued with mastering the jutsu.

I dropped to the ground and breathed heavily. Wiping a bead of sweat with the back of my hand off my face, I stood up and glanced at my clock on my iPod. It read 6:14 pm. I growled, and then my stomach rumbled loudly. I never ate lunch, and only had a bowl of Cheerios for breakfast. We had been training since about 8:45 am, and had been working on the substitution jutsu for about three days.

About an hour ago, I had perfected the look, and was now working on how to make the substitution move, talk, and attack. Lilian had given up about an hour or two ago, and Noah was taking a short break.

I looked up at the sky and was surprised to see that it was twilight. The sun was a setting crimson orb, making the sky a painting of peaches, oranges, and apricots with little ice cream scoops of vanilla cream.

Angel yawned and lay down in the grass.

"Well, I think that's enough for today," Kakashi said.

"What?" I stared at him like he was crazy.

"I'm not done yet!" Noah shot up.

"Neither am I," I agreed.

"I don't care," Lilian groaned.

There was silence.

"Okay then," Kakashi finally sighed. "I'll make you a deal. If you three can master that jutsu in one hour or less, then I'll treat you to dinner. If not, then you come back here at the crack of dawn without have eaten breakfast."

Noah's eyes widened, Lilian got up, and my eyebrows rose slightly.

"You're on," I smiled.

Lilian stared at me, her mouth hanging open, while Noah just returned my grin. I made the hand sign, focused my chakra, imagined the log as myself, and turned around. The clone stood there, a blank expression on its face. I made it take out a kunai, walk over to Kakashi, and smirk.

"Now, about that deal…?" the clone asked.

"I'll take the steamed vegetables," I said. "With a side order of a small chicken Caesar salad and some orange chicken. My drink will be the green tea."

"I'll have the pork rice bowl, some French bread, and lemonade!" Noah piped up.

The waitress nodded, scribbled on her pad, and pointed at Lilian and Kakashi with her pen.

"Just a mini pizza with a Root Beer," Lilian muttered.

"Rice," Kakashi said plainly.

"Anything else?" the waitress asked.

I looked at Noah and Lilian.

"Maybe later," Lilian replied.

She nodded and walked away. Kakashi asked us where we wanted to go for dinner, and I had suggested one of those places with loud rock and metal music and colorful lights. We didn't go, even though we all agreed expect for Kakashi. He said we were too 'young.' So, he just brought us to the Teahouse like he did last time with me. Oh well. At least we're allowed to eat tonight.

"Do you guys want to order a sundae or something after?" Lilian was looking at the menu again.

I shrugged and Noah nodded eagerly. Our food arrived ten minutes later.

I grabbed a pair of chopsticks and picked up a single, steaming piece of broccoli. The vegetables consisted of broccoli, carrots, mushrooms, cauliflower, asparagus, and bean and pea stalks; all steamed, lightly salted, and covered in melted butter on a bed of hot, white rice. The salad had baby spinach, iceberg lettuce, cabbage, radish, cucumbers, mushrooms, chunks of Swiss cheese, and croutons.

"Well, it's easy to see what kind of people you are just from seeing what you eat," Kakashi remarked.

"Yeah, I know," I smiled a tiny smile. "I'm the vegetarian."

"I'm the junkie," Lilian smirked.

"And I'm in-between," Noah said.

I paused, agreed with Kakashi mentally, and ate my dinner. When we were all done, we ordered dessert: a triangular brownie drizzled in hot fudge, three scoops of vanilla ice cream smothered in caramel, chocolate, and butterscotch sauce. I ate only a couple bites of the brownie, and about three fourths of a scoop of ice cream. (Each scoop was pretty damn big, probably the size of my fist.)

Kakashi then paid the bill, and we left the restaurant.

"Thanks for the dinner, Kakashi-sensei," I yawned.

"Yeah," Noah and Lilian agreed.

Kakashi nodded and continued walking. Angel got tired after about fifteen minutes, and jumped onto my shoulder.

"Well," Noah yawned and started to walk away. "I should start heading back home. I guess I'll see ya guys tomorrow."

"Do you want me to come with you?" I asked nervously.

"Don't worry about him," Kakashi smiled, putting his hand on my shoulder. "I'll keep an eye on him while he heads back. Trust me."

I smiled a bit, yawned, and headed towards our condo.

"See ya guys in the morning!" I called over my shoulder.

It took us only about five minutes to get back. I took a shower and brushed my teeth. As I was rummaging through my bag to get my pajamas, I noticed my laptop still lying in there. I pulled it out, flipped the black flap up, and turned the power on. The Wi-Fi internet was still working, and all of my word and paint files were still there. I checked my AIM, and there was a new message in the inbox from Caity. I opened it up and it read

_Hi! How's it going?_

I hit _Reply_ and wrote

Fine. Starting to train.

I then hit _Send _and waited. Surprisingly, I got a reply a minute later. It said

_Anything you need?_

I raised a questioning eyebrow and typed back.

What do you mean?

Like something from your world.

My eyes widened slightly.

Who the hell are you?

My name is Tech. I am your computer.

0o Are you part of the reason why I'm here?!

Sort of.

Weird.

To you yes, it may seem. I can give you anything from your world to here.

Awesome. Okay, then. Can you get me my PS2, Xbox 360, DDR Extreme 2, Halo 3, Guitar Hero 2, DDR controllers, Guitar Hero 2 controllers, and Xbox 360 wireless controllers?

There was a bright flash of green light behind me, and I turned around. There, on the floor, was everything I had asked for.

Sweet! Thanks a lot! I don't think I'll have time to use them, but whatever. I gotta go. See ya!

Anytime. Bye.

**The weirdness just keeps getting worse and worse!! What's going on?! Keep reading to find out. By the way, the next chapter is a filler chapter that I just had to write. It also strengthens some relationships…**


	18. Party!

**Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto or any of the brand names I mention in this story. I also don't own any of the music lyrics that appear.**

Chapter 18

Party!!

We didn't have to train the next morning, so I slept in 'till 9:30 am, ate my usual bowl of Oh's, dressed in my workout clothes, and tried out my DDR. I was a bit rusty, and didn't start to get the hang of it again until the fifth song.

Before I knew it, I was doing challenge on Butterfly, heavy on Wonderful Night, etc. I spent the whole morning practicing, and stopped at noon to eat a turkey and lettuce sandwich. After, I put everything away, and took a walk around the village with Angel.

I groaned as I picked out some vegetables in the produce section of the grocery store. Lord Hiashi had given me a long list of groceries and no one had volunteered to come with me. I bet Neji or Hinata would have, but they were both training. Hanabi is too young, Lord Hiashi is too busy, and I don't really know any of the other members. Goddamn, why can't I just shop for the Main Household and not the whole fucking family? Oh, and not to mention all the stuff I have to get for-

"Hey, Lilian!" I turned around and saw Madeline waving at me.

"Hi," I waved with two tomatoes in my hand. "Why are you at the store?"

"Just taking a walk with Angel," she shrugged. "I saw you in here so I decided to talk."

"Consider yourself lucky. Lord Hiashi gave me a list of groceries to buy that's as long as hell."

I held out the paper and she took it from my hands. I could see her eyes scanning the paper as she read.

"Goddamn, that's a lot," Madeline spat, handing it back to me.

"I know. Can you help me? It's going to take me forever to get all this crap."

"Sure."

Okay, so apparently, Madeline had gotten her DDR, Guitar Hero 2, and Xbox 360 from our world through her laptop named Tech. She said that she has no clue how it's possible, but she's just glad that she has her videogames for entertainment.

"Perfect," I said, smiling to myself when she told me.

"Why is that perfect?" she asked.

"Oh, nothing."

She let the conversation stop there, and helped me find the groceries I needed and carry them back to the Hyuuga house. Of course, I had to do _more_ shopping, but I couldn't let her find that out.

I wiped some sweat from my brow, sighed, and headed back towards the condo. An early twilight breeze bit my skin as I walked. I had been training since ten in the morning with Noah, Lilian, Angel, and Kakashi. Angel, Lilian, and Noah had left around four pm, and Kakashi watched me practice until five thirty. During the past week and a half, we had learned the transformation jutsu, clone jutsu, and were now working on the shadow clone jutsu. Kakashi was also training with each of us separately and teaching us jutsus that we all can't learn as a group.

It was now about six thirty, and I decided to call it a night.

As I was walking, I noticed that the village seemed somewhat empty. I hadn't seen Shikamaru, Naruto, or anybody else in a couple of days, and wondered where everyone was. I knew that most of the senseis and maybe some other younger ninja were out doing missions; that was understandable, but I mean everyone? C'mon, every single ninja can't be absent from the village…could they?

I was about to open the door when Lilian came running towards me, arms waving.

"Hey," she panted. "Can you help me for a sec?"

I nodded and asked her what it was.

"Follow me," she motioned me with her hand.

"Hold on, let me take a quick shower," I said, smelling myself. "You can play some videogames while you wait if you want."

I hurriedly washed off all my dirt and sweat and changed into my long black INFAMOUS shirt that stuck to my figure, slightly baggy navy blue pants with a black belt, and black and white DC shoes. Before I left, I looked in the mirror, and decided to put on a bit of onyx eyeliner and two silver hoop earrings with a silver stud at the top of my right ear.

I then followed Lilian to the Hyuuga's house. She took out the keys, opened the door, and switched on the lights.

"SURPRISE!!" many voices shouted, including Lilian's right in my ear.

"What the fuck?!" I screamed, practically falling to the ground.

After I regained my bearings, I looked around. Practically every ninja I knew had jumped out from behind a few chairs and couches, except for Gaara, Neji, Shikamaru, and Sasuke of course, who just sat around.

There was a table with a shiny purple tablecloth layered with snacks and drinks and my DDR was set up and on at a big screened tv. My Xbox 360 was also set up at a different tv with Guitar Hero 2 ready to be played and up against a wall was a table stacked with presents. A giant stereo that I could plug in my iPod was sitting on a table and if you cleared some of the furniture away, there would be great space to dance. Hanging above our heads were different colored balloons, streamers, and a giant banner that read Happy 13th Birthday, Madeline!

"Wait…what the hell?" I finally asked, blinking. "It's my birthday?!"

"Yeah!" Naruto grinned. "You're thirteen now!"

"Seriously?"

"Yep," Lilian nodded. "Check your cell phone."

I pulled my cell phone out and checked the calendar. It read April 28.

"Okay, then," I smiled, shrugging. "Thanks so much! Now, how about getting this party started, then?"

Noah, Naruto, Kiba, Chouji, Kankurou, Ten-Ten, and Ino cheered; Hinata, Neji, Sakura, and Temari smiled; Angel and Akamaru barked happily, Shikamaru shrugged, Sasuke smirked, and Gaara remained silent. I happily strolled over to the stereo, plugged in my iPod nano, and turned it on. _Stupid MF_ by Mindless Self Indulgence blasted through the speakers. It was right in the middle of the song.

_Get it?_

_Get it?_

_Get it?_

_You just don't get it!_

_Get it?_

_Get it?_

_Get it?_

_Stupid mother fucker!_

_You stupid mother fucker!_

_You stupid mother fuck…er!_

Oops. I guess I didn't go back to the main menu. I hurriedly pressed pause.

"What was that?" asked Kiba.

"You really don't want to know," I said as I scrolled back to my Playlists and selected Party Playlist that I had created. "It's basically a song about…anger and…hate. I seriously doubt you'd like it, unless you like the same type of music I like: rock, alternative, punk, and metal."

The song _Bleed It Out_ by Linkin Park blasted through the speakers and Naruto and Kiba moved the furniture so everyone could dance.

Everyone went to the snack table, danced, or just hung out.

I sat down on the couch in front of the big screened tv featuring Guitar Hero 2 and picked up the guitar-shaped controller.

"Alright, who wants to play against me?" I called over the music.

"Hang on, I'm coming!" Noah shouted back. "Yeah, we'll take a large extra cheese, a large pepperoni, a large veggie, and a large chicken Caesar salad…Uh huh, yeah, to the Hyuuga household. Okay, thanks."

He hung up his cell phone, grabbed the second guitar, and joined me on the couch. I signed in to my username and selected my band 'The Suicide Bombers.' Noah signed into Mr. Cheapo with his band 'The Leprechauns.' We then chose the song _Strutter_, which was originally made by the band Kiss, and played it on Hard while Noah played Expert.

My eyes were kept glued to the screen as my left fingers moved up and down the five fret keys while my right thumb strummed the other key where the strings were supposed to be on a real guitar. However, I listened to the music at the same time and tried to get into the rhythm.

In the end, I scored a 96 and Noah a 98. After we played other songs like _Them Bones, Monkey Wrench_, _The Trooper, Dead! _and _Six_. I couldn't play those songs on Hard yet, so I played Medium while Noah alternated between that and Hard. We then handed our guitars off to the people waiting and watched them play. Bored, I got up and danced to _Shut Me Up_ by Mindless Self Indulgence with Temari.

"So how you holdin' up here?" she asked when we were hanging out near the snack table.

I tossed a few powdered brownie bites and Flavor Blasted Goldfish Crackers into my mouth and sipped a can of Diet Ginger Ale.

"Pretty good," I glanced over at Noah, who was beating the crap out of Kankurou at Guitar Hero 2 on _Heart-Shaped Box_.

"He's so funny," Temari suddenly giggled, following my gaze. "He's always hanging out with Kankurou, helping him with the puppets and just doing guy stuff. It's like having another member of the family."

My eyebrows rose. Since when did my brother acquire a taste for puppets? I then smiled, brushing the thought away. It doesn't matter. As long as he has some friends besides me in this world, I'm content.

"Does he ever hang out with your other brother?" I asked.

"Sometimes, but they never talk," Temari shrugged. "Maybe it's for the best that it stays that way."

I nodded and noticed Noah waving at me.

"Do you guys wanna play Halo 3?" he shouted over the music.

We looked at each other and nodded before grabbing wireless controllers and collapsing on the couch.

"Mind if I play?" Kankurou came up from behind me.

I nodded and handed a controller at him. He sat down between me and his sister and quickly made a file named Puppet Master.

"I guess I'll play too," Shikamaru groaned. "Nothing else to do."

He sat down on the other side of me and Noah gave him a controller. My brother then explained to the three how to play while I scrolled through the multiplayer maps, selected Last Resort, and picked the starting weapons as assault rifles and sniper rifles. By the time the game was finished loading and starting to countdown, they all understood how to play.

The game began and I started out near my sniping spot: a high metal tower overlooking almost the entire inside of the area that connected to a platform above the giant revolving wheel.

I walked up the multiple metal ramps and came to the very top that was up against the cliff face on one side. I pulled out the sniper and zoomed in. I spotted Kankurou's black and purple character and sniped him in the head, earning a headshot kill as my reward.

"WHAT THE HELL?!" Kankurou screamed. "WHO DID THAT?!"

"Me," I replied calmly.

"Yeah, why do you think her name is Da Sniper?" Noah snickered.

I smiled to myself and started to pelt Noah's black and white character with my assault rifle, who obviously knows where my spot is. He shot back with a shotgun and threw a frag grenade. I backed up and chucked a plasma grenade. It stuck to his helmet and exploded. I laughed a bit, but stopped when there was an explosion and I died.

"Got ya!" Noah grinned.

"You suck," I glared at him.

I was chatting with Hinata when I heard Kankurou scream. I looked over at the television screen and spotted Madeline and Noah laughing their asses off. I smiled and shook my head. I had never really played any of the games from the Halo trilogy, nor did I want to, so I wasn't hooked on it like Madeline was.

I walked over to the snack table and munched on some Organic Vanilla Animal Crackers that were in the shapes of the Pooh characters. They were one of Madeline's favorite snacks, and she always brought them to school ever since I met her. It just goes to show that she doesn't care what people think and she'll always be a kid at heart. It's the same thing with me. I have a little Pooh keychain that I attach to the end of my cell phone. You could say we're crazy, but he's just so cute!

"So, how do you think the party's going so far?" a voice asked.

I turned and faced Neji. Before I could answer, though, the doorbell rang. I answered the door and a pizza guy shoved three boxes of pizza and a bowl containing a chicken Caesar salad in my arms. He then held out his hand, waiting for the money.

"And what hand do you expect me to use to give you the money?" I growled, trying to hold the food steady.

"I'll take care of it," Noah raced up next to me.

After the food was paid for, Madeline's brother cleared the food table and helped me set it on it.

"GUYS!!" he screamed. "FOOD'S HERE!!"

Everyone stopped what they were doing in a second and herded over to the table. I moved out of the way before getting trampled. I managed to find Madeline at the table, calmly waiting to get her slice, but I could tell she was impatient.

"Awesome, pizza's here," I slung my arm over her shoulder.

"Yeah, thanks for the heads up Captain Obvious," she replied sarcastically. "You order it?"

"No, but I was planning on to later and ask you the same thing."

"Then who got it for us?"

"Me!" Noah popped up from behind us.

"Seriously?" Madeline asked.

Her brother nodded.

"Thanks," I gulped down some of my Diet Coke.

It took forever to get the pizza, but I finally managed to snag a nice cheese slice and joined Hinata on the couch. Temari came over a few minutes later, introduced herself, and we soon struck up a conversation.

I sat down on the arm of a chair and ate my small slice of vegetarian pizza; some of the salad, and a Diet Root Beer, watching everyone enjoy themselves. As I was making my way to the 'dance floor,' someone's hands covered my eyes. Great. The old 'Guess-Who?' game.

"Guess who?" a mature male voice.

"Kakashi," I replied, smirking.

"Surprised?"

"The party or you being here?"

He removed his hands and I turned around. He was smiling and holding a medium-sized, silver box wrapped in green ribbon. Kakashi handed me the present.

"The party," he replied.

"Oh. Yeah, actually. None of my friends have actually thrown me a party before. Lilian and some of my other girlfriends baked me a cake for my twelfth birthday, but that's it. It's very thoughtful, though."

"Speaking of which," Ten-Ten suddenly popped up next to me. "It's time for cake!"

She grabbed Kakashi's present from me, placed it on the table loaded with presents, and walked into the kitchen. Sakura and Ino cleared a space in the snack table and set down a tub of vanilla ice cream, a bottle of chocolate syrup, a jar of caramel sauce, whipped cream, and sprinkles. Twenty seconds later, Ten-Ten came back out carrying a cake that looked like the one Lilian and my friends made last year. It was round and about the size of your average dinner plate. It was covered in white frosting and layered with pink Yogos, Starbursts, and Whoppers. In pink icing read Happy Birthday, Madeline!

Ten-Ten inserted in two pink candles and a giant one shaped like a 13, struck a match, and lit them. She then motioned for Neji to turn off the music, who did. The whole room became silent except for the two tvs, which Kiba turned down the volume.

"Alright!" Ten-Ten grinned. "Let's all sing 'Happy Birthday' to Maddie! 1…2…3!"

Everyone started to sing, even Sasuke and Gaara looked like they were mouthing the words. I couldn't help but smile while a blush rose to my cheeks faster than a cheetah could run.

When they were finished, I blew out the candles. Noah, Ten-Ten, Lilian, and Temari then hugged me and Sakura started to cut the cake. Lilian nudged my shoulder as I received a small piece of the cake.

I turned around and rolled my eyes. Shikamaru was behind me, waiting. God dammit. Lilian knows that Shikamaru is one of my favorite characters, and she probably saw me on the couch with him, Noah, Kankurou, and Temari playing Halo 3. So now she assumes that I like him. That's what gets me pissed off at her and all of my other friends all of the time. Since I have more guy friends than girlfriends, they always act like there's something more than just being friends. God, they all do that with all my guy friends, especially Lilian.

I glared at her and served myself a scoop of vanilla ice cream with caramel. I then sat down on the couch and someone cranked up the music again.

"Well, I think I'll be on my way," Kakashi ruffled my hair. "Happy birthday."

He pulled off his mask and kissed me on the cheek, but he did it so fast that I didn't get to see his face. I froze, when he had pulled away, earning myself a low chuckle from him. He then smiled, waved, and left.

"Hey," Lilian collapsed next to me.

I didn't respond and continued to stare into space.

"Madeline? Heeeeeeelllllllooooooo?"

"Huh?" I snapped out of my daze and looked at her. "Oh, hi."

"Why didn't you answer me?" she asked, clearly irritated.

"Um, well, er, I don't think I should tell you."

"What? That Kakashi kissed you on the cheek? I don't care."

I sighed in relief. "You don't? Okay, good. I thought you would since he's your favorite character."

"Nah, I changed my favorite a long time ago," Lilian waved her hand at me. "Anyway, how do you like the party so far?"

"It's awesome."

"Really?"

"Yeah."

"Wow. I thought it would be a dud, but it seems like everyone's enjoying themselves."

"Yep."

"But…"

"But what?"

"I think everyone would get a better kick out of it if we played a few games."

An evil smile was growing on her face, which scared me. A lot.

"Like what?" I asked.

"You'll see."

"If it's something to do with DDR or anything like that, then wait. Let me digest first or else I'll blow chunks."

"Oh goodie. I can certainly eat now."

We giggled a rare giggle and ate our dessert while gossiping about stuff and laughing at Noah who was having a spazz attack with Naruto about the sprinkles. Noah said they were called jimmies, but Naruto argued that they were called sprinkles. They ended up yelling and wrestling each other to the ground.

After we finished, I continued my game of Halo 3 with Temari, Noah, Kankurou, and Shikamaru. At the end of the first game, Noah won with 25 kills. I came in second with 20, Shikamaru 12, Temari 9, and Kankurou 4.

We switched the map to High Ground and played Capture the Flag. The teams were me and Shikamaru vs. Noah, Temari, and Kankurou. I decided that it wouldn't be fair if Noah and I were on the same team, so we just chose randomly.

I started out near the port-a-potty and spotted our flag.

"Stay close to this area," I told Shikamaru. "If I'm getting attacked, cover me."

He nodded and I picked up a rocket launcher. Suddenly, someone punched me playfully and I hit the trigger, making me commit suicide. My eye twitched and I turned around.

When I punched Madeline playfully in the arm, her finger accidentally hit the trigger button, making her shoot the rocket launcher against a wall and committing suicide. I busted a gut while she just whipped around and gave me the evil eye.

"What?" she groaned.

"Okay, let's play a game now," I grinned evilly at her.

"Oh God, it's the evil smile. What are you thinking?"

My grin became wider and I stood up on the couch.

"Alright everyone, pay attention!" I yelled over the music. "Madeline's playing DDR and challenges anyone who wants to play. Guys listen up, 'cause if you tie or beat her, you'll get to kiss her! But let me tell ya, she's really good! So, just come up and play whenever you feel like it!"

"WHAT?!" she looked at me. "There is no way in HELL I'm doing that!!"

"Too bad, you're playing. Everyone's spent a week and a half planning this party, and I'm not going to let it all run down the drain because _you _don't want to do something."

"But they don't even know how to play!"

"I beg to differ."

"Huh?"

"For the past week and a half, while we've been planning this, I taught everyone how to play DDR."

"Yep!" Naruto grinned. "But we aren't as good as you, obviously."

Madeline glared at me as Naruto grabbed her wrist and dragged her towards the dance pads.

I smirked and watched them start to play. If she thinks this is bad, then she'll freak what we do next.

"Just to tell you, I don't really feel like getting that sweaty," I sighed, slipping off my shoes.

"That's fine, I don't care," Naruto replied.

I let him scroll down to the song Butterfly. Of course. The most popular and obvious song anyone would ever pick in the history of DDR songs. I chose Heavy, then changed my mind and went down to Challenge.

"Why are you doing Challenge?" Noah asked. "I thought you did Heavy as a warm-up."

"Eh, it depends how I'm feeling," I replied.

Noah nodded and Naruto stared at me like I was crazy. The song started and my feet slid and tapped on the dance mat. When it ended, I got all perfects and greats except for eight goods and four boos, which earned me an A and a very high score. Naruto, being the overconfident person he is, had done heavy, and earned a C. Hm…not too bad.

"Sorry, Naruto," I said. "I guess you can't beat the master just yet."

Naruto smiled and got off the dance controller, but I could tell he was disappointed.

"Hang on," Lilian stopped him. "Madeline, he did heavy on that song and got a C, right?"

"Yeah, and I got an A on a level higher," I replied, not liking where this was going.

"Well, since he did do the same level as you, and got an average grade, I think he earns to kiss you on the cheek, don't you?"

I froze, my brain trying to analyze what she had just said. I made my head nod and located my smile muscles. Naruto grinned and ran over.

"Kankurou, get over here!" I commanded when Madeline was busy with Naruto.

"What's up?" he asked, walking over.

"The ceiling," I replied.

The puppeteer gave me a weird look.

"Forget it. You wanna make twenty bucks?"

His eyes lit up and he nodded eagerly.

"Okay, here's what you have to do…"

Naruto's kiss wasn't that bad. It was actually really sweet. His soft lips brushed up against my cheek and then he pulled away. He was blushing slightly and I smiled again. I was going to head over to the couch, but someone tapped me on the shoulder and I turned.

"Wanna see if you're still the master?" Kankurou challenged.

"Bring it on," I smirked. "I can do this all day."

We stepped onto the mats and Kankurou picked Wonderful Night. I scrolled down and picked Heavy. When the song started, I moved my foot to hit the arrow, but I couldn't.

"What the hell?!" I exclaimed. "Why can't I move my feet?"

I tried desperately to move my feet, but nothing happened. I could only watch helplessly as Kankurou moved around, scoring perfects and greats. When the song was almost over, I realized in horror why I couldn't move. I spotted faint blue strings made of chakra coming from Kankurou's fingertips.

The song ended and I could suddenly move again. I whipped around and gave him the coldest glare I could muster.

"You fucking son of a bitch!" I screamed. "I swear to God, I'm going to kick your fucking sorry ass!"

"Well, I had to do it," Kankurou grinned sheepishly. "Otherwise you'd beat me."

I opened my mouth to yell more colorful words but Lilian pulled me to the side.

"He cheated!" I whispered to her, my eyebrow twitching. "He used his chakra strings so I couldn't move or anything!"

"I know," she said, smiling that evil smile a bit. "But still, rules are rules. He beat you, and you know what that means."

"Dear God, what have I gotten myself into?" I sighed.

"Don't worry. He only has to kiss you on the cheek."

"Positive?"

"Yeah."

Lilian giggled and pushed me back towards Kankurou. He had taken his hood off and this battle paint was all gone. He actually looked kinda…cute.

"Let's just get this over with," I muttered.

"Trust me," Kankurou smiled. "I wouldn't harm any sister of Noah's."

I searched his eyes and they meant what he had said. Kankurou then walked up to me and I saw Temari look at me nervously out of the corner of my eye. Even though he was fourteen, I was about as tall as him, maybe even a bit taller.

Anyway, he leaned in and gently kissed my cheek. It wasn't fast like Naruto's though. Kankurou kept his lips lightly planted there for about five full seconds before pulling away.

After, Kiba and Neji accepted 'my' challenge, but they both failed. I punched them both playfully and patted them on the back. I leaned up against the wall near the stereo and listened to _Animal I Have Become _by Three Days Grace followed by _Land of the Free?_ by Pennywise and then _Bullet in the Head_ by Rage Against the Machine. I mouthed the words discreetly, but unfortunately Sasuke, who was leaning on the wall on the other side of the stereo, noticed.

"Why do you like those songs?" he asked.

"Why the hell would you care, emo-poser?" I sneered.

"I don't, bitch. I'm just wondering."

I glared at him and decided it couldn't hurt to tell him.

"I'm not really sure," I said after pondering. "I guess I can just relate to them. When I was little, I used to be a sweet, girly girl. But as I got older, I…realized would be the word, what the world was really like and how people acted towards others. I eventually became a careless, sarcastic rebel, constantly thinking how the world was being brought up by dumbass retards and how they were killing it as well as themselves. Unlike most of the rednecks of my country, I realize how we're being controlled by the government and slowly losing our freedoms. That's why most of my songs are like that. I can connect to them 'cause I agree with them and its how I think."

Sasuke stared at me for a long time, as if trying to figure me out. Of course, he probably wouldn't. When I talk to my friends about that kind of stuff, they kind of just nod their heads or disagree. So why would he understand?

I saw Madeline talking with Sasuke by the stereo. Perfect. Now was our chance.

I gathered all of the girls together and we got in a circle in the kitchen. There, I told them my plan.

I was then about to head over to the dance floor again, when I was dragged to the kitchen by all of the girls, Lilian being the leader.

"Okay, we're going to play some games now," she gave me the evil smile again.

I bolted for the door, but Temari dragged me back by my ankle. I clawed at the ground and Sakura begged me to stay.

"No," I shook my head, trying to get Temari's hand off my foot. "If it doesn't benefit me then I don't want to play."

"But it will!" Ten-Ten smiled.

I thought about it and finally gave in.

"Okay fine, what are we playing then?"

"Snuggle Bug!" Ino cried happily.

I raised an eyebrow. I had heard of the game and was pretty sure I knew the rules, but I had never played it before.

"It's like the game Sardines," Lilian explained when she saw my expression. "We have everyone draw a piece of paper from a bag. All of them are blank except for one that reads _Snuggle Bug_. No one can tell what they got, so the person that gets that card is the only one that knows. The lights are then turned off and the Snuggle Bug goes off somewhere to hide. If they are found by a person, they have to snuggle until everyone has found them and are snuggling them. Then the game ends and we do it all over again."

"What about the people looking for them?" Temari asked. "How do they know that the person is the Snuggle Bug?"

"If you run into someone, you have to ask them if they are the Snuggle Bug. If they aren't, then you keep searching, but if they are, then you two have to snuggle until the game is over along with everyone else. Make sense?"

We nodded and Hinata pulled out a paper bag and a piece of paper. She then tore it up into small pieces and scribbled the words _Snuggle Bug_ onto one of them. Lilian grinned, snatched the bag, and we followed her out of the kitchen. Sakura turned off the music and signaled the people who were playing videogames to stop. I searched the guy's faces, and they all looked slightly worried.

"Okay guys!" Lilian held up the bag and shook it slightly. "We're going to play a little game now called Snuggle Bug. Who's ever heard of it or knows how to play?"

All the girls, including myself, Noah, and like three guys, raised our hands. Lilian then proceeded to explain the rules while Sakura had everyone draw from the bag. I unfolded my piece of paper and stared at the neatly written words: Snuggle Bug. My lip twitched slightly as I slipped the paper into my pocket along with my iPod that I took from the stereo.

"…And the last person to snuggle the Snuggle Bug loses. Understood?"

Everyone nodded and she glanced at her paper before putting it away.

"Okay. Everyone ready? 1…2…3!"

The lights flicked off and everyone went off in their own directions to find the Snuggle Bug.

_Me, _I thought as I slipped through the darkened kitchen.

I hid in the shadows of a corner behind a counter and relaxed. The table and chairs were to the right of me with two or more counters even more to the right. The pantry door was so close to me, that I could reach out and open it.

I sighed quietly and rested my head on my knees. It would be a long time before anyone found me. Because the Hyuuga's compound was enormous, it would take everyone forever to search all of the rooms, closets, and other various locations.

_But the kitchen is too obvious, _I thought. _I should-_

Suddenly, I heard footsteps and froze, but they slowly faded away. Yes, the kitchen was a _way _too obvious place to hide. Then, the idea struck me. I cautiously crawled away from my spot, came to a door, and slid it open. A cool, evening breeze bit my skin as I walked out of the kitchen and onto soft grass. The full moon shone brightly and the stars sparkled like spilled salt. I breathed in the fresh air and strolled over to the edge of the property. I finally found what I was looking for: a fairly large oak tree with long branches.

I climbed up the oak easily, sat on a branch, about halfway up the tree, and leaned my back up against the trunk. Yes, it would take some time to turn the entire Hyuuga household upside down, but so what? I wanted to see who could assume my location and find me the fastest. Plus, it's fun to hide in a not-so-obvious spot in games like Snuggle Bug.

_Noah will probably be the first,_ I thought, pulling out my iPod. _He knows I love to hide in the shadows of somewhere unpredictable._

I pressed Shuffle Songs and listened to _I Stand Alone_ and _Bad Religion _by Godsmack. I also listened to songs by Rage Against the Machine, Papa Roach, Mindless Self Indulgence, My Chemical Romance, Pennywise, All That Remains, Alice in Chains, Three Days Grace, Green Day, Linkin Park, Metallica, and Sum 41.

_Perfect,_ I thought as I silently moved away from the kitchen. _Madeline's the Snuggle Bug in a place where no one would think to look. Now just to find Shikamaru…_

I crept out into the hallway and could hear people bumping into each other, asking where the Snuggle Bug was. I pretended to be looking for the Snuggle Bug, but I was really just checking the rooms to find Shikamaru. I probably bumped into everyone but him, the two Hyuggas, and the Sand Siblings. I gave the rest all the same answer: No I'm not the Snuggle Bug…No I don't know who it is. Sorry. Good luck. Bye.

_Man, it's been thirty minutes already,_ I thought._ Madeline must be bored out of her freaking mind. But then again, she has her iPod. I hope she can hang in there._

It must've been at least five minutes before I finally found Shikamaru after thinking that. He was leaning up against the hallway wall, hands in his pockets, kind of just dozing. I shook my head and poked him repeatedly in the shoulder.

"Shikamaru, wake up," I whispered.

He groaned, opened his eyes, and looked at me sleepily.

"What do you want?" he yawned.

"Just to tell you, if you're looking for the Snuggle Bug and want to get this game over with, Maddie's out in the giant oak tree in the garden," I replied, trying to hide a smile.

"She's the Snuggle Bug?"

"Yep…Well, I better get going. See ya."

I turned on my heel and smiled to myself. Mission accomplished.

Probably about half an hour had gone by and I figured that everyone had given up on me. I was still sitting on the branch, my ass and back was starting to ache, and I was shivering nonstop. _Numb_ by Linkin Park was blasting in my ears and my head was resting in my knees, my eyes on the kitchen door.

Suddenly, the door slid open and I perked up, lifting my head. I peered through the leaves, trying to decipher the figure that was strolling through the darkness.

_Please be a guy_, I thought. _Oh please God, make it a guy_.

They accidentally tripped over something and quietly cursed to themselves. I instantly recognized the person as Shikamaru. How could someone so lazy be the first one to find me in a game of Snuggle Bug?

He must've spotted me, 'cause he was headed in my direction with his hands in his pockets. He stopped at the foot of the tree and looked up at me.

"Why aren't you playing?" he asked, squinting.

I pulled out an earplug and looked down on him.

"I am playing," I replied.

"Oh…so, erm, does that mean you're the, uh, Snuggle Bug?"

I nodded and could've sworn I saw a smile flicker across Shikamaru's face.

"What a drag…I guess that means I'm coming up then."

He grabbed onto a branch and easily heaved himself up next to me, leaving a space in between us. I stared at the shining full moon while glancing at Shikamaru from the corner of my eye. He followed my gaze to the clear night sky and we sat in silence. A cool evening breeze brushed past us, rustling the leaves slightly and making goose bumps jump to my skin. I thought about everyone back in my own dimension and wondered if they missed me, wondered if they even knew I was gone...

"Well, are we gonna play by the game or just sit here?" he asked, snapping me out of my thoughts.

I turned my head to look at him and tried to conceal a blush. It was probably obvious to him by now that I'm too shy to make the first move…If you would call snuggling with the first person to find you in this game the first move.

"Sure, I guess so," I shrugged.

Shikamaru nodded and tentatively wrapped his arm around my waist, pulling me close to him and closing the space that was between us. My whole body stiffened when his hand first made contact with my skin, but I soon relaxed and rested my head on his shoulder. He gently grabbed my wrist and traced the blue veins that ran down it with his thumb. My wrist tingled and a shock of energy traveled through my whole body at his touch. I closed my eyes and tried to concentrate on the heat radiating from him, but it still wasn't enough to warm me up. Instead, I realized that he smelled sweet, like hay, but also, with a mix of a more subtle scent…freshly washed cotton maybe?

"Why did you hide out here anyway?" Shikamaru asked when he noticed me shivering slightly.

"I don't know," I admitted. "I guess it's because I wanted to see who knew me well enough to find me. I figured Noah would be the first, but I was surprised when you showed up."

"You know, I was actually going to head out here to relax and get away from everyone, but then I met up with your brother and he told me where you like to hide. Plus, Lilian told me you were out here, so…"

"Wait, how the hell did _Lilian_ know I was up in this tree?"

"Beat's me. All she said was 'Hey Shikamaru, if you're looking for the Snuggle Bug and want to get the game over with, Madeline's right out there in that tree.' She kinda had this weird smile on her face before she ran off."

Oh how I could so clearly picture my friend saying that to him with that evil smile of hers. And I knew exactly why she told him that. The song _Motivation_ started to play on my iPod.

"What song are you listening to?" Shikamaru suddenly asked.

"Here, listen and find out for yourself," I lifted my head away from his shoulder and handed him one of the earplugs.

He placed the tiny earphone into his ear and listened while I fiddled with a piece of my hair. Soon, he looked at me, eyebrows raised, and I knew he recognized it.

"It's the song Naruto made me play for you at the Third Chuunin Exam, remember?" I smiled.

"A little too well," he sighed.

I giggled and turned my attention back to the stars.

"But you know…"

I turned my gaze back to him and he was smiling at me, his chocolate-brown eyes shining.

"I probably would've forfeited right on the dot if it weren't for you who hadn't pushed me like that."

I blushed slightly and pretended to be very interested in my DC shoes. We sat there in silence, listening to some songs that Shikamaru would like, such as _Wake Me Up When September Ends_ by Green Day, _99 Red Balloons_ by Goldfinger, and _The Enemy_ by Godsmack.

"Can I borrow it sometime?" he suddenly asked.

I looked at him, smiled, and nodded.

I checked on Madeline and Shikamaru before I moved on, and everything was working out perfectly. They were 'snuggling' and it looked like they were…happy.

I slid out a side door into the 'side' garden and sat down on a stone bench that was surrounded by plants and flowers. I winced when my butt touched the cold, hard surface, but I ignored it and just stared at the tiny stream at my feet, thinking.

_But, are you truly happy, Lilian?_ I asked myself.

I knew if I answered 'no,' then I'll just get even more depressed, so I tried to not think about it. Sighing, I gazed up at the moon, my thoughts still somewhat swirling.

"Why do you look so sad?" a voice came.

I flinched and turned my attention to the house. Neji emerged from the shadows of the 'porch' and walked over until he was standing in front of me.

"Oh, it's nothing," I shook my head. "Besides, why would you care? It's not like anyone around here cares about me."

"Why would you say something like that?" he sat next to me.

"Because it's true."

"No it's not."

"How would you know?!" I shot back. "You're the last person that could possibly care for me."

Neji looked at me hard with those lavender orbs of his, as if trying to read my thoughts.

"Why are you out here, anyway?" he finally asked, still holding his frightening stare. "Are you the…what's it called…Snuggle Bug?"

"No," I shook my head again. "I'm not. I just came out here to clear my thoughts, that's all."

A chilly breeze swept by and I shuddered and gripped the edge of the bench. Suddenly, I felt Neji wrap his arm around my waist and pull me close to him.

"Whatever it is, it's going to be okay," he said softly.

_What the fuck?_ I thought. _Why the hell is he acting like this? Why aren't we fighting and cussing at each other? Or did Madeline or someone just set this up? OR is he just messing with me?_

I decided to think about that later and just focus on the warmth that was transferring from Neji's body to mine. We probably stayed there for ten minutes or so. That's when I noticed the lights were being turned back on inside the house. I guess that meant that everyone had given up on searching.

"I guess we should head back inside," Neji said, helping me up.

"Yeah," I agreed. "I just have to do something really quick."

We must've been up there for at least twenty minutes before the kitchen door slid open. My eyes were starting to droop, but Shikamaru nudged me and pointed to the door. I squinted and saw Lilian standing there with golden light surrounding her from the back.

"Alright, you two," she whispered. "It's been like an hour and it seems like everyone has given up. Noah said we're going to watch a movie, so you can come down if you want."

She then disappeared back inside and slid the door closed. Shikamaru and I exchanged glances and I nodded. Shikamaru helped me down and we made our way into the house. I was about to relax on the couch, but Noah pulled me to the side.

"What do you want to watch?" he asked, his eyes shone in the sweeping green and blue lights.

"I dunno," I shrugged. "What do you want to watch?"

"Um…King Kong…or the whole Alien Saga!"

I flinched at the first movie. I always cry my heart out when I see it.

"Okay…I guess so."

"What are we doing?" Temari came up next to me.

"Watching a movie," I replied. "Could you turn off the music and tell everyone? They don't have to watch, but there won't be much to do 'cause we need a tv."

She nodded and ran off. Noah told Lilian and she led me into the kitchen. We made four giant bowls of popcorn while the couches and chairs were moved back and everyone made themselves comfortable.

When we came back, I surveyed the room. Sakura and Ino were once again arguing who should sit next to Sasuke, Naruto and Kiba were sitting on the arms of a chair with Chouji in the middle, Hinata was sitting next to Shino and Ten-Ten, Kankurou, Temari, and Gaara all sharing a couch, and Angel was lying next to Akamaru. (awww!)

I handed a bowl to Temari for the Sand Sibs; down on the floor for Hinata, Shino, and Ten-Ten; on Chouji's lap for him, Naruto, and Kiba; and one for myself, Noah, Lilian, Neji, and Shikamaru, who was already dozing on the couch.

I popped a piece of popcorn into my mouth and played the movie. I sat down in between Shikamaru and Lilian on a pretty good sized couch, but we barely had room for ourselves. Noah was sitting on Shikamaru's right and Neji on Lilian's left.

I yawned, stretched, but my hand 'accidentally' hit Lilian's shoulder. She glared at me when I didn't say sorry, then grinned evilly and threw a handful of popcorn at me. I got the message and chucked an equal amount at her. Soon, everyone was throwing popcorn and laughing their asses off. I even thought I saw smiles on Gaara's and Sasuke's face.

The fight ended about five minutes later, because everyone ran out of popcorn. So, we just went back to watching the movie. Some of the girls cringed when the natives attacked the small party and others stared in amazement as King Kong fought the three T-Rexes at once. Three hours later, when the camera was looking at Kong, who was gently brushing Ann's face before falling, I was wiping tears from my eyes. A small sob shook my chest as it was looking down on Kong's dead body and then switching to the soldiers posing for a picture. I buried my face into my knees, not caring if anyone saw me crying.

"Alright," Noah's voice sighed. "Let's watch another movie so Madeline can stop the waterworks."

I raised my head and glared at my brother, who was popping in another DVD. My eyes skimmed the others, checking for their reactions on the movie. All the girls had sad looks on their faces and I'm pretty sure Hinata's was tearstained. The guys' faces, of course, were either neutral or emotionless. Naruto and Kiba, however, gave me sympathetic looks.

I realized Noah had put in Alien and rolled my eyes. Whatever. I've seen it like five times so it would be no sweat living through it…but will everyone else be able to?

I had never seen the movie King Kong before, so I was actually shocked when he died like that. I thought it was sad, but didn't find it sad enough to cry. Madeline, on the other hand, hid face her face in her knees, weeping silently. I had never seen her cry before, but I knew she was very sensitive when it came to the earth or animals. She probably wasn't crying because of his death, she probably thought it was sad how the humans killed him or something.

"You okay?" Neji nudged me.

"Yeah, I'm fine," I replied.

He nodded and we turned our attention to the bright television. Noah was loading Alien into the DVD player. I shrugged. I heard it was pretty scary, but I didn't care.

I was wrong…about the not caring part. It was fucking creepy. About an hour into the show, I was squeezing my eyes shut when the alien was bursting through that dude's chest. Soon, I felt Neji pull me close to him, but I was so freaked out, that I didn't mind. I rested my head on his chest and listened to his breathing. By the sound of his heart, it sounded like he wasn't even scared at all. How guys manage to do that, I'll never know. However, I can't stand it, so if it has to be like this through the whole movie, so be it.

The movie started and before I knew it, I cringed, snatched one of the pillows from Shikamaru's head, and hid behind it. Even though I had seen this movie before, the alien coming through the guy's chest still scared me. He groaned, opened his eyes, and looked over at me. I peered out from behind the pillow a few seconds later and watched before cowering again. I buried my face into my 'shield,' turned my body away from the screen, and my head rested on someone's forearm.

About a minute later, the person wrapped their arm around me and pulled me close to them. I looked up and Shikamaru pretended to be asleep. I raised an eyebrow at him. He continued to fake it, but soon blew it when a smile grew across his face. I rested my head on his shoulder and continued to watch the movie.

"Dammit, Madeline, turn the movie off!" Sakura cried when the camera showed the second guy die by the alien's mouth shooting through his face.

"Nope," I smirked. "If you can't handle this then leave. Otherwise, stay and tough it out."

Sakura and Ino glared at me, but they didn't leave. They probably figured that this movie will give them some chances to snuggle with Sasuke. Yeah, right.

I rolled my eyes and fell asleep after the movie ended.

I was having another bad dream about tornadoes. It was probably because I watching a scary movie that triggered it. That always happens. Dammit, I hate those dreams. It's basically the same thing every time: I'm at some house and surrounded by dangerously close tornadoes. I only have a limited amount of time to pack up and get the hell out of there. It scares the shit out of me, considering the fact that I'm terrified of tornadoes.

"Wake up," someone whispered, shaking me gently.

My eyes snapped open and I realized I was still on the couch, leaning on Shikamaru's shoulder. The tv screen was still on in the DVD player main menu and the room still dark. It looked like everyone was asleep where they first sat down for the movie.

"You okay Maddie?" Shikamaru asked. "You were moving around and…well, you sounded like you were whimpering."

"Yeah, I'm fine," I muttered. "It was just a bad dream. Sorry that I woke you."

His head nodded in the darkness. I then moved my head away from his shoulder and dozed back to sleep.

I opened my eyes and yawned. Lilian was in Neji's arms, a calm, almost happy look on her face, and Noah was halfway off the couch, his mouth wide open. Somehow, my head was resting on Shikamaru's shoulder again. His arm was around my shoulder and a soft blanket was draped over my body. Okay, awkward.

I groaned, slid off the couch with a hard fall, and headed off to find the nearest bathroom, dragging the blanket with me. After I had done my business, I started to pick up all the crap that was lying everywhere: cups, paper plates, some popped balloons, a fallen streamer, and pieces of popcorn, chips, and candy.

As I was throwing away a plastic cup, I heard some rustling. I turned around and found that basically everyone was starting to wake up.

"Morning," Noah yawned.

"Hi," I grunted, and then looked around. "Where are Naruto and those guys?"

"Had to leave early for a mission," Ten-Ten replied, .

"Okay, whatever. Lilian, whatdaya have for breakfast? I'm hungry."

"Huh?" she rubbed her eyes. "Oh, um…let see…pancakes, waffles, fruit, cereal…"

"Do you have any crepes?"

"Um, no, but you can make 'em if you want."

"Kay. I'll have two of those and an apple."

"Okay, all the stuff is in the kitchen. I'll ask what everyone else what they want."

Nodding, I dragged myself into the kitchen, Angel at my heels. I rummaged through the fridge before finding some chicken and I set it in a bowl for her. I then grabbed the flour, baking soda, eggs, milk, etc. to make the Icelandic pancakes and started to add all the ingredients into a bowl. (My ancestor was the first settler on Iceland, so we have crepes every so often. They are really thin, thinner than a tortilla. When they're done, you put jam and powdered sugar on them. It is so freaking good!)

While I was mixing, I watched Lilian, Neji, and Hinata get out all the breakfast stuff for the army in the other room. By the time I was placing the batter into a pan, everyone was lined up behind a counter, waiting to be fed. A couple minutes later after flipping, I placed the two freshly cooked crepes on a plate. I then spread blueberry jam on one side, sprinkled on powder sugar, and wrapped them up like a burrito. Grabbing an apple from the fridge, I sat down at a small kitchen table.

As I was finishing up, everyone started to come over to the table and start to eat. I threw my apple core away, walked into the 'party' room, and looked around. I decided to play Halo 3, just for the hell of it. I did the level Halo on Legendary and Angel joined me on the couch.

_Why are you playing this level again?_

"I dunno," I shrugged, shotgunning an Adult Flood. "I guess it's just because I kick ass."

"If anyone kicks ass on this game it's me," Noah sat down next to me, munching on toast.

"No, we're basically tied. Plus, you're so cheap by always using a rocket launcher."

"Really? Is that a challenge I hear?"

"Sure as hell it is!"

"Bring it on motha fucka!"

I smirked and switched to Custom Games so we can go against each other.

"Oh yeah!" he gloated when he won 25 to 20. "Who's the master? What now, bitch?!"

I stared at him, flipped him off, signed out, and handed the controller to him. I could feel him flipping me off while I wandered out of the room.

"Well, nothing to do now," I muttered. "Might as well leave."

I was just flipping three pancakes in a pan when Madeline pulled me away from the stove.

"What?" I groaned.

"I need your help," she replied.

"Can't you see I'm cooking for everyone?"

"Yeah, but everyone's eating or waiting."

"Okay, fine. Shoot."

"Alright, here's the deal. I'm gonna take off 'cause I can't stand losing to Noah at Halo 3 and there's nothing else to do. So help me get all of my presents, DDR, Guitar Hero, and game stations back over to my condo."

I stared at her like she was crazy.

"I can get you some boxes to make the carrying easier, but I can't _help_ you carry it over," I said. "All I can get you is some boxes. Wait here."

I ran out of the room and turned my room upside down, hurrying so the food wouldn't burn. Stupid, I know. I should've finished cooking the food first. I finally found three, fairly big boxes and carried them back to the family room, where Madeline was waiting. She thanked me and I headed back to the kitchen, where I worked for another thirty minutes at the stove.

After Lilian left, I grabbed my Xbox 360, PlayStation 2, Xbox 360 wireless controllers, DDR dance pads, Guitars, Guitar Hero 2, Halo 3, and DDR Extreme 2 and pack them into one box. When that was full, I packed the other two with all of my wrapped presents. Once that was all done, I grabbed my iPod that was plugged into the stereo, but remembered that Shikamaru said he wanted to borrow it and left it there. I then called Noah for help and he grabbed a box while I grabbed two boxes. I shouted a good-bye and thank you to everyone and left the Hyuuga house with Noah and Angel behind me.

I tried to hide a frown when Madeline was saying goodbye to everyone and giving them hugs. I didn't really like the idea of her leaving her own party. She could at least hang around until everyone left and then help clean up.

"Thank you so freaking much for setting this all up," she said, hugging me. "You have no idea how much this meant to me."

"Who are you and what have you done with Madeline?" I asked, not hugging her back.

"Sorry. I know, if you acted like I am now, then I would be creeped out too. All I want to say is thanks."

"You're welcome. So, why are you leaving early again?"

Madeline looked around to make sure no one was listening or paying attention and lowered her voice.

"It's because I'm embarrassed…" she whispered. "when opening presents. I hate it when people just stare at you and want you to like the present. If you don't like it, you have to fake that you like it."

"That's it?" I stared at her. "Well, we can just hide the presents until everyone leaves."

"Nah, I already said goodbye to everybody. But I'll come back after I, you know, open my presents, and help with all this crap."

I nodded, said goodbye, and watched her leave.

I set down the two packages of pain and torture and collapsed into an armchair that was in my room.

"Thanks, Noah," I said. "You can go back now if you want."

"Nah, I think I'll just train or head back to the ranch," he replied.

"Okay, then. See ya."

"See ya. Happy birthday."

"Thanks."

He hugged me and Angel and left. I sighed and looked over at the presents in the boxes. _I guess I'll unwrap them now since no one's watching_, I thought.

I slid the door closed, sat down on the floor, and grabbed the nearest present, a tiny one, orange with a blue ribbon. I opened up the blue card, read the sloppy handwriting wishing me a happy birthday, and realized it was from Naruto. Setting it aside, I opened up the small present. Inside, was a coupon for a free item at the Ichiraku restaurant (of course) and a few thousand yen.

I smiled, set the gifts aside with the card, and pulled Kakashi's present into my lap. I took the folded piece of white paper on top and read it.

Look's like someone's finally a big girl now. Enjoy the present and make sure to put it to good use.

Kakashi

P.S. I won't be able to train the team anymore. Sorry.

I smiled. Kakashi was always a man of few words. I set the card aside, untied the ribbon, and lifted the lid. Inside, were scrolls, kunai, shuriken, and twenty thousand yen. I picked up one of the scrolls and pulled it open. It showed and explained how to perform a certain earth style jutsu. Another showed how to summon a life-sized voodoo doll that could transform into a doll version of the enemy and a third explained how to perform a healing jutsu. Also, one scroll showed how to summon a giant wolf, named Mizuki that could perform earth style jutsus. On the side of one scroll, a paintbrush could be pulled out, and on the opposite side, slid open a small container with black ink. I realized that if I drew something on there and used my chakra on it, the drawing could come to life. (Just like Sai can do).

"Awesome," I smirked. "I'll break all this stuff in tomorrow morning."

I placed the lid back on and grabbed a small gray box tied with a white ribbon. _Gee, I wonder who this is from, _I thought sarcastically while picking up a blue, half folded, piece of paper with a cloud on it.

Madeline,

Happy Birthday and yeah…

Shikamaru

I rolled my eyes, ripped the gray wrapping paper apart, and lifted the lid. An adorable, stuffed, gray wolf sat in the corner of the box. It had a silver ribbon tied around its neck and a star and cloud imprinted on the top of the right ear.

"Awww!! It's so cute!" I cried, squeezing it into a hug.

I kept it in my lap while taking out a stuffed dog with a note on it.

This is for Angel.

I shrugged and set it down in front of Angel's face.

"Here, it's from Shikamaru," I said.

_Awesome!_

She put it in between her forearms and rested her snout on the body. I then unwrapped all of other remaining presents: an entire mapped out region of the Fire Country with great walking routes and a bone and dog food for Angel from Kiba and Akamaru, a small bag of food pills from Chouji, four 50 coupons to the weapon shop and ten thousand yen from Ten-Ten, a lavender meditating cushion and a jar of jasmine from Neji, a bathroom set containing a white, fluffy towel, a pineapple scented bottle of body wash, a coconut scented bottle of shampoo and conditioner, a creamy, white lotion that smelled like cherry-almonds, and a bottle of perfume that smelled like cucumber melon from Sakura, Ino, and Hinata; a book on Battle Tactics and a hilarious card saying that we should hang out more from Temari, and a sand bracelet and a neatly written note saying thank you for understanding him from Gaara.

Well, what was I expecting? A 20 gift card to Jamba Juice? The game Gears of War 2 for the 360? An album or poster autographed by Sum 41 or Mindless Self Indulgence? Yeah right. Oh well, all of these gifts were nice and I would have to send out thank you cards.

I was gathering up all of the trash when I noticed two small presents and a giant card at the bottom of a box. Raising an eyebrow, I grabbed the tiny silver box wrapped in white ribbon and read the small white card.

Happy Birthday Madeline!

This present is from Shikamaru and I. Since they don't have the stuff we have in this world and I couldn't think of anything to get you, this was the only thing that came to my mind. Hope you like it.

Love,

Noah

P.S. Shikamaru helped me pay for it.

I opened it up and nearly fainted. Inside was a sterling silver ring embedded with onyx stones and green turquoise stones that made up a floral design.

"Oh…my…God…" I whispered. "It's…beautiful…"

Angel barked.

_What's it made out of?_

"I know that black stones are onyxes, and I'm pretty sure the green ones are turquoises."

_Cool! And who's it from?_

"Noah…but he wrote that Shikamaru helped pay for it."

_God, it must've cost a fortune._

"Yeah, probably like two hundred bucks to like five hundred bucks or something."

I slipped the ring onto my middle finger and realized it fit perfectly. Smiling, I grabbed the other present, light pink wrapped with a magenta ribbon. I picked up a pink card with make-up items all over it.

G.G.,

Happy 13th Birthday! Hope you liked the party.

Anyway, I just found this place by luck. Go to the right after the Teahouse and you'll find it.

I've been there, and it's pretty good. Also, I figured you needed something new to read.

Enjoy!

Lilian

I tore the wrapping paper off, lifted the lid, and took out a gift card of some sort. It was covered in images of fruit and ice cream and a 15 was imprinted in the lower right hand corner. _Look's like a place like Jamba Juice or Coldstone, _I thought.

I then grabbed a thick black book with a bloody flower on the front. It was _New Moon,_ the sequel to _Twilight_.I had read it once before, but it was so sad, that I didn't want to read it again. However, it was still a good book, but not as great as the first.

After, I picked up the giant card, a white background covered with colorful streamers, cake, and the words Happy Birthday in red and blue letters. Inside, everyone had written a note and had signed their name, including Angel who put her paw in ink and left a print and someone, probably Kiba, since he's the only one who could understand her besides me, wrote down her message to me. I smiled at all of the notes, some funny, and some serious.

I sighed after I was done and made a pile of the presents by my bed. I then listened to my iPod until Ten-Ten came home.

**I wrote this chapter a couple of weeks before my thirteenth birthday, and I was so excited that I decided to write this. It helps with the storyline too. :D**


	19. The Retrieval

**Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto or any of the brand names I mention in this story. I also don't own any of the music lyrics that appear.**

Chapter 19

The Retrieval

"Okay, shoot another," I panted.

Mizuki nodded and performed an earth style jutsu. I hurriedly completed the hand seals for the millionth time, put my hands to the ground, and transferred my chakra.

"Earth Style: Earth Shield Jutsu," I muttered.

Instantly, a dome of rock shot up and surrounded me. I heard a crash as Mizuki's jutsu hit the earth. I then performed more hand seals and focused my chakra to my fingertips. Claws made of white chakra surrounded my fingers.

"Earth Style: Claw Dig Jutsu," I whispered again.

I drove my hands into the ground and started to dig. Rock and dirt flew in my face and clothes as I slowly formed a tunnel and escaped before the shield busted open. I reached the surface, jumped out, and threw a kunai with three explosive tags attached. Mizuki created a wall of rock and the kunai exploded against it. When the dust cleared, we both stood there, staring at each other.

"Okay, I think that's enough for today," I finally said.

"Alright, see ya later," Mizuki replied.

She then disappeared in a puff of smoke. I looked all around the training ground and shrugged.

It had been almost a month since my thirteenth birthday party, and I was starting to get the hang of all the new jutsus from those scrolls Kakashi had given me.

As I was trying to heal a moderate cut on my right shin, I heard some rustling behind me. I turned around and saw Lilian walk towards me.

"Hey," I said.

"Hey," she replied. "Wanna train?"

"Um, okay, but not for long. I kinda just finished, but whatever."

She nodded and got into a fighting stance. I did the same and we had a stare-off. Suddenly, Lilian charged towards me with a kunai, forming hand seals as she ran. She created five clones and they all jumped at me.

I hurriedly jumped into the air away from them and threw kunai with explosion tags attached to them. One disappeared in a cloud of smoke, and the others dodged them. I landed on a tree branch, created a clone, and transformed it to look like Lilian's clone.

I hid behind a tree trunk while the clones looked at each other confusingly. They then punched and kicked each other until only my clone and the real Lilian remained standing. Lilian performed some hand seals and fireballs burst from her mouth, hurling towards my clone.

I dodged them and as I was just started to make the hand signs for the jutsu Earth Spheres, Lilian disappeared. I hurriedly looked around, and suddenly turned to glance behind me. She was there alright and fire burst from her mouth again. I completed the jutsu and giant balls of rock shot at her while I dodged the sinister flames. Unfortunately, my shoulder of my shirt and the back of my vest didn't make it, and those parts deteriorated away.

I groaned in annoyance and held up a hand signaling her to stop. Lilian was about to open her mouth, but saw what she did and sighed.

"Sorry," she muttered.

"It's fine," I sighed too. "I'll just head back to my condo, put on a fresh pair of clothes, and then go shopping for a tank-top and shorts or something. You can come if you want."

"Nah, I think I'll just stay here and relax or whatever."

"Okay, see ya."

I waved slightly, turned on my heel, and started back towards the condo. When I had taken a shower and put on my long black Infamous shirt that stuck to my sides, slightly baggy navy blue pants, black and white DC shoes, eyeliner and two, tiny, silver hoop earrings with a silver stud at the top of my right ear, I grabbed the some of the money I had gotten for my birthday, and started towards the shop Ten-Ten had taken me when I first got there.

I felt bad when Madeline walked away from the training grounds with Angel. I had accidentally burned off most of her vest/tank-top/thing and parts of her shirt. I didn't mean to, it just happened, like I didn't have any control over the chakra. Plus, she didn't dodge in time.

I pushed the thought to the very back of my head and started to train independently.

I took a deep breath and gathered all of my chakra into my fingertips. I then swirled my hands around my body in the air. Streams of lightning appeared in the air and soon formed almost a dome around me. The atmosphere crackled and popped with electricity and I felt the hair on the back of my neck stand up.

Once I was done with that, I put my arms in front of my and 'pushed' the lightning. It rocketed in all directions and struck the first trees that stood at the edge of the training grounds. It finally dissolved and all that remained was the remnants of the trees. I panted and decided to work on my fire jutsus.

I gathered my chakra and breathed it out as flames, but it wasn't like Sasuke's Fireball Jutsu. Instead, the fire took the form of a long, slim dragon that crashed into the ground and became a wall of flames.

I stood there, watching the fire die down. I was about to practice my death/darkness jutsus when I thought I heard some rustling. I froze and listened intently. Yes, I was sure there was someone there.

"Whoever you are, show yourself!" I yelled, pulling out a kunai knife.

I waited and waited and waited and waited and waited, but no one appeared.

"Goddammit! If you don't come out right now, I'm going to fucking burn you to the ground!"

Some bushes rustled a few feet away from me. My eyes narrowed when Neji emerged.

"Neji, what are you doing here?" I cocked an eyebrow.

"None of your business," he replied monotonously.

"You were watching me?" I finished.

Neji sighed and nodded.

"We made a deal," I said a little angrily. "You aren't allowed to watch me train."

"I know. I was just heading over to where I train, and I just happened to walk past where Madeline was training. I decided to watch to see how good she's gotten, and then you came along and you fought. After she left, I assumed you would follow her, but you didn't, which interested me, so I stayed."

I opened my mouth to say something, but closed it and started to throw kunai at a tree trunk.

"You're still here?" I groan when I spotted him.

"What's so bad about people watching you train anyway?" Neji finally asked.

"I don't know," I replied, not taking my eyes off the tree. "I guess it's just because when people watch me do anything, I get nervous and sometimes mess up. And if I do, then I get embarrassed. Plus, if I'm doing anything like practicing a new technique, I want it to be a surprise to everyone and not have them already know what I'm doing."

Neji's lip twitched and it turned into a smirk.

"There's nothing to be ashamed of," he remarked. "You're actually quite good for someone who's an ass like you."

"Gee, thanks for the comment," I replied sarcastically. "Get off my back, will ya? I can't concentrate."

Neji shrugged and left the training grounds.

At the store, I picked out a lavender colored tank-top with a hint of beige lined with thin, vertical dark gray lines and a pair of blue shorts. I also bought a fishnet shirt that I wore under my tank-top and a pair of black leather gloves. Black leather straps laced up my right arm to my elbow and also on my right leg, from my thigh to my knee. Finally, I wore my headband as a belt around my waist.

"How do I look?" I asked Angel.

She barked happily.

_Great! Let's go now!_

I nodded and we paid and left. I decided to visit Noah at the Nara Ranch, just for the hell of it. It took us about thirty minutes to get up there, but it was only about three in the afternoon. I looked through the fields, but only found four cows, two sheep, a goat, and a horse. I asked Mrs. Nara where he was, and she said probably off training or hanging out somewhere.

Great, so now I just wasted a chunk of my life. I groaned and we made our way back to the village. When I got there, I walked around, giving up on Noah after the first five minutes.

"Hey, Maddie!" someone called my name. "Over here!"

I turned and saw Ino waving at me from a table at the BBQ Restaurant. She was seated next to Chouji, and across from them were Shikamaru and Asuma. I walked over and stopped in front of their table.

"What's up?" I asked.

"Shikamaru became a Chuunin," Chouji replied.

"Really?" I turned to him, trying to act surprised.

He just nodded and blushed slightly.

"Why don't you join us?" Asuma offered. "We're celebrating. The more the merrier."

I glanced at Angel, nodded, and sat next to Ino, across from Shikamaru.

When the waitress came, I just ordered three plain rice balls and a glass of ice water.

"Hey, Maddie," Ino finally said. "When did you get those new clothes? They're so cute!"

"Thanks, but I just think they're plain," I replied, cringing slightly at the word _cute_. "I got them today. Had to since my old training clothes got burned, ripped, and worn out. I had to trash them."

"How did they get like that?"

"Just from training."

Ino's mouth dropped open, as did Chouji's. Asuma gave me a blank look and Shikamaru said and did absolutely nothing.

"So, I'm assuming training has gone well, then?" Asuma said, breaking the silence.

"Yeah, it's pretty good," I made the so-so gesture with my hand. "But sometimes it's just tiring and boring as hell."

"Exactly," Shikamaru agreed.

Asuma nodded and the food soon arrived. We then discussed about what was going on and other stuff. Ino got pissed off at Chouji for eating all of the food, and all he did was continue to do so.

"Guys, just shut up," I groaned. "It's starting to get old."

"Tell me about it," Shikamaru muttered. "Try being on a team with them."

Later, I had to get up and go to the bathroom. While I was washing my hands, I overheard Ino talking to Chouji about his eating habits. When she left, I was about to go over and tell the poor guy not to listen to her, but then Shikamaru came along and gave him _his_ own pep talk.

"She would be twice as popular as she is now if she didn't starve herself," Shikamaru continued. "Me? All the guys I know would go for a girl with a little meat on her bones."

I looked at myself in the mirror, trying to see if I looked too skinny. I'm slim, probably skinnier than average, but it doesn't look like I'm starving myself. (Although sometimes I do for a day or two) I have some muscular build on my arms, but especially around my thighs and calves from all the running and DDR I do. There's also a tiny bit on my lower stomach if I flexed them. I waited until they were gone, then walked back to the table.

We only stayed there for another fifteen minutes, because everyone had finished eating.

"Do you know where Noah is?" I asked Shikamaru as I watched Ino, Chouji, and Asuma leave.

"No," he replied. "Not since this morning at breakfast. He said he was going to head to the training grounds, and then goof off the rest of the day."

"Man, he could be anywhere by now," I sighed. "Oh well. If he doesn't show up tomorrow or so, can you tell me?"

Shikamaru nodded and we parted ways, me making my way back to the condo. There, I played Halo 3 until sunset and listened to my iPod while drawing in my sketch notebook until I went to bed.

I forgot to turn off my alarm, so it woke me up at around 5:45 am. Groaning, I stumbled into the shower and almost fell asleep inside. After, I put on my clothes I had bought yesterday and got ready. I sat at the kitchen table, trying to decide what to do. I reached for my cup of green tea, but it suddenly cracked and I pulled my hand away. I remember I had read somewhere that if a cup cracks when you reach for it, it means something bad is about to happen.

_Oh come on, Maddie, _I thought. _You're not THAT superstitious._

I threw the cup away in the trash and checked the clock. It read 6:20 am, so I took Angel out for a walk, crunching on a pear.

As I passed the park, I spotted five figures running. Squinting, I realized it was Shikamaru, Chouji, Naruto, Kiba, and Neji. Naruto noticed me and waved.

"Hey, Madeline!" he called.

Kiba elbowed him in the ribs and Neji glared at him, making him fall silent. I raised an eyebrow and walked over.

"What's up?" I asked.

They all exchanged glances.

"Nothing," Kiba said too quickly, wearing a fake smile. "Just, you know, going out for a morning walk. Why are you so up early?"

"My stupid alarm clock woke me up," I said, crossing my arms. "What about you guys? And don't tell me it's to get some fresh air or to train because you wouldn't be in a cluster like this."

Their exchanged glances only told me one thing they were all thinking: _Damn, she's smart. What do we do now?_

I stared at them until Shikamaru sighed.

"What a drag," he muttered. "Well…"

"What?"

"…Sasuke left the village last night with four sound ninja."

"That's it? Whatever. I don't give a shit about that emo-prince," I turned around and started to walk off. "I guess I'll see you guys around after the mission."

"Wait," Shikamaru grabbed my wrist. "There's something you need to know."

I stopped in my tracks.

"I told you already, I don't care about Sasuke," I repeated, getting irritated. "He's always been a dick, fed up with revenge and all, and now look what he's done. He betrayed the village for God's sake! It's not worth going after him. He can die in the hands of Orichimaru for all I-"

"Just shut up and listen for a minute will you?" Shikamaru interrupted.

I sighed, closed my mouth, and looked over at my shoulder at him.

"Well? I'm listening," I turned my gaze away from him.

"Well, um…"

"What? Spit it out or don't tell me at all, because if it's something I don't care about, than this is just a waste of my time."

"But you will care."

"Then goddamit, tell me! Stop your fucking stalling!"

Shikamaru paused as if trying to think of a way to tell me whatever he needed to tell me, or if he was deciding that I wasn't worth telling.

"…Uh…they nabbed Noah while they were at it," he finally said.

Well that I certainly wasn't expecting. I knew Sasuke left the village, but…? My heart skipped a beat and Angel whimpered. I stood there, staring at the ground.

"I'm sorry," Shikamaru said after a moment's of silence, squeezing my wrist gently.

"We need to save him," I finally whispered.

"We are," Chouji said reassuringly. "We need to form a team and leave here in less than thirty minutes."

My head shot up and I whipped around while Angel's ears perked.

"Then take me with you!" I pleaded. "Please!"

No one said anything and I turned desperately to Shikamaru.

"Shikamaru, please," I was starting to lose overall control of voice, causing it to crack. "I'm begging you."

I took a shaky breath and scanned their faces. Angel whimpered again and looked up at Shikamaru with frantic eyes. He picked her up and she licked his nose.

"I can't let you get hurt if it's a trap," Shikamaru finally said.

My brain buzzed like a trapped fly as I searched for an escape route, but I came up with nothing. Finally, I resulted to my nervous habit, which was fiddling with my black hair band that I always wore around my wrist. And since I couldn't think of anything else to say, I just stood there, chewing my lip.

Shikamaru looked from me, to Angel, to the rest of the group, and back at me again.

"All right," he sighed. "You can come."

"Thank you," I smiled a tiny smile.

"Okay, let's go!" Naruto was bouncing up and down like he had to take a piss.

We nodded and headed for the gate. It opened and Naruto said to follow him. I raised an eyebrow at him and Kiba said that we should follow Shikamaru. Chouji agreed and reminded us that Shikamaru was the leader.

"Since you are the leader, shouldn't you come up with a plan?" Neji asked. "From what I hear Sasuke joined up with Orochimaru and there's bound to be traps."

Shikamaru nodded.

"First," he started. "This is a rescue mission, so we'll be in the formation of pursuit. Since the enemy has an advantage over us, the formation will be resistant to any attacks: the single strike formation. We all know that the most important position is the spearhead. That'll be you Kiba. Because of all the walks you go on with Akamaru, you know the Land of Fire's terrain well. That sensitive nose of yours will help us smell out booby traps and since we have two pairs of eyes in front, you'll be able to look out and protect us from any attacks.

"Second in line will be Madeline. I'll give you credit Maddie, you're fast for someone who doesn't train in their world, but you're not as fast as Kiba. However, you're pretty skilled at ninjutsu, genjutsu, and weaponry. Therefore, you'll be able cover his back just in case he can't come up with an attack in time. Also, you can watch out for traps because you're so familiar with almost all types of weapons. Your contacts make up for bad eyesight and your hearing is pretty good. Plus, you have Angel so she'll be able to smell the enemies' chakra and we'll have two more pairs of eyes up in front.

"Third, will be me. From here, I'll be able to give silent hand signals to everyone behind me. Because I'm so close to Madeline and Kiba, I'll get to help out with a frontal attack. In the middle, Naruto, that's you. This position is perfect for you since you're able to lash out attacks in any direction and help everyone. Plus, you have the Shadow Clone Jutsu.

"Fifth, behind Naruto, will be Chouji. Chouji, you may not be the fastest, but you have the most strength. You'll be the second wave of attack. Kiba, Madeline, Naruto, and I will launch an attack at the enemy, then you'll come in and finish them off.

"Last, and the most difficult job, is you Neji. I want you to use your Byakugun to check for any weaknesses in our positions. You'll also have an overall view of the area to see where the enemy is and check for traps. Got it?"

We all nodded and he kneeled on the ground, pulled out a scroll, and scribbled a quick sketch of us as tiny chibi figures.

"If you understand that, then take a look at this. This is how we're going to look out for the enemy. Kiba has the straight forward view, Madeline will have an overview lookout of the right forward, and me an overview of the left forward. Naruto has left, Chouji right, and Neji behind. Alright, now let me take a look at what tools and weapons you have. That way, I'll know what you're carrying into battle. Any questions?"

Naruto shook his head and I stretched my hair band nervously, desperate to get a move on.

"With all that out of the way," Shikamaru continued. "I've saved the most important thing for last…I know I don't know him very much, and I know that Sasuke and I aren't exactly buddies. I don't even exactly like him and could say that I know more about Noah than him, even though I've only met the kid about two weeks ago…But, they're both Leaf Village shinobi, (cue music) and I'll put my life on the line to bring them back. I know that I always seem like a pretty lazy guy, but not today…'cause I'm responsible for your lives too."

I couldn't help but smile and Angel barked happily.

"Wow, Shikamaru," Kiba remarked. "You're finally starting to act like a Chuunin."

I nodded in agreement along with Chouji while Neji told us to pull out our pouches so he could see what we had. I did what he said and unbuttoned it. Inside, were about seventy-five kunai, a hundred shuriken, twenty-five explosive tags, three bombs (one of each kind: light, smoke, and poisonous gas), four scrolls (two for summoning and two for drawing jutsus), two extra paint brushes, some bandaging cloth, and about three hundred feet worth of wire and makibishi for traps. In my thigh pouch, were about forty more kunai.

"Alright, let's…" Shikamaru started.

"Wait!" a voice cried out.

We all turned and Sakura was standing right behind us. _Great, _I thought.

"Sakura?" Naruto asked.

"Please, take me with you," she said.

"I talked to Lady Hokage and she explained everything to me," Shikamaru said. "Even you couldn't stop Sasuke from leaving, could you? I'm sorry, but you can't come."

"Huh?" Naruto stared at him. "Does that mean Sasuke turned his back on you Sakura?"

Tears welled up in her eyes and she looked at me.

"She's different," Shikamaru said, following her gaze. "Her brother was taken too."

Sakura's stare told it all: _What the hell are you talking about? My Sasuke was taken from me! That is so unfair that she can go and I can't!_

"I'm sorry…" he muttered. "But she would probably go off by herself if I refused and I can't allow that to happen. That, or beat me up."

Everyone turned to stare at me. I ignored them and turned away to face the road.

"C'mon, let's get outta here," I started to walk off. "Or do I have to drag you along with me?"

"Alright then, we should get going," Shikamaru sighed.

I looked over my shoulder to look at the whole team desperately. Naruto was glaring at me for ignoring Sakura, Chouji and Neji were just staring at me, Kiba was raising an eyebrow at me, but Shikamaru was giving me a slight sympathetic look.

"When you lose your best friend then you'll understand," I growled, loud enough for every one of them to hear.

Sakura had fallen silent and was staring at the ground. I noticed tears starting to form in her eyes and felt somewhat sorry for her, feeling her pain.

"N-Naruto…" she whispered. "This is a once and a lifetime request…Please…bring Sasuke back to me…there's only one person that can save him…and that's you…"

Naruto stared at her, then grinned and gave a thumbs-up.

"Don't worry," he said. "I'll bring him back. That's a promise."

More awkward silence. Damn it. Looks like another gay baby was born.

Kiba asked him if he could keep that promise, and Naruto replied that it was his ninja way to do so.

"Alright, let's get a move on," Shikamaru said again. "Because of this little interruption, we lost some time, so let's go."

_Finally, _I thought. I nodded, Angel jumped onto my shoulder, and we walked off.

I sighed and watched Madeline with the squad disappear from my sight.

"Dammit," I growled, starting for the training grounds. "Why doesn't anything exciting ever happen to me? Why don't I ever go on any missions? Goddamn, it's not fair."

I angrily chucked a kunai at a tree trunk. I kept walking, not bothering to take the knife out of the bark.

_I may not like it_, I thought. _In fact, I hate the thought of it. But if I'm going to be a ninja, then I need to be assigned missions. But if I'm not assigned missions, then what's the point of being a ninja?! Ugh…my only choice is to train…_

I reached the training grounds and started.

"Um, guys…" I started.

"Look out!" Neji cried.

We all landed in a row on a nearby tree branch.

"What?" Naruto asked.

"Look," Shikamaru pointed.

They all followed his finger to a tree trunk. On it was a piece of paper.

"What is it?" Chouji asked.

"A paper bomb," Neji replied. "I'm pretty sure there are five more around the area."

"It's a perimeter barrier," Shikamaru agreed. "It's a type of a trap that uses ninjutsu. Once set off, it gives the target just enough time to get to the center of the area before they take the full effect. Good work finding it, Neji."

Neji nodded and I looked away, pretending to be swatting a mosquito away.

"What's wrong, Madeline?" Chouji asked me.

"Oh, nothing," I replied.

"Did you see the paper bomb?" Shikamaru pressed.

I raised my eyebrows at him. How did he guess that? I shyly nodded as my reply.

"Make sure you speak up next time, okay?"

I nodded, embarrassed.

"Aw man," Kiba groaned. "Now we have to go around it."

I sighed and carefully stepped over a trip wire for the millionth time.

"Hey, Naruto," Kiba said. "Do me a favor and watch where you're going. This place is full of trip wire traps and I don't want you getting us blown up."

"Tell me something I don't know," Naruto groaned.

"Naruto, stop!" Shikamaru cried.

Naruto froze in his spot, which was his right foot five inches above the ground and his left leg behind him with the knee bent. He had his arms outstretched for balance, but I could tell he was going to set off the trap. I turned and realized that Shikamaru had caught him with his Shadow Possession Jutsu and was in the same position too, hanging on to Chouji's scarf.

"You are such a drag," he groaned.

When they got away from the wires, we all squatted around and examined them. I noticed that a second wire only showed up in the light.

"Damn clever," I muttered to myself.

"I see them," Neji suddenly said.

I turned and realized he was using his Byakugun.

"All right, then," Shikamaru sat down. "Here's the plan."

"And remember, Kiba," he finished. "The timing of that smoke bomb has to be perfect. Got it?"

"Yeah," Kiba nodded.

"And Madeline, make sure those four hit their mark."

"Right," I said, using a little of my chakra to quickly paint a sketch of four, small, vicious-looking dragons on a scroll.

"Okay, everyone understand?"

We all nodded. I hurriedly added five tiny spiders.

"Good, let's split up then."

I rolled up the scroll, put it in my weapon pouch for later use, and walked off with Shikamaru and Neji. Angel and Neji led the way, Neji using his Byakugun and Angel her nose. We crawled through endless bushes until Angel suddenly stopped. She sniffed the ground once, twice, and climbed back onto my shoulder.

"What is it?" I whispered.

She nudged me with her nose and I peeked through the bushes we were crouching in. In a clearing in front of us, were the Sound Four. Everyone was leaning up against a tree, except for Tayuya, who was sitting on two barrels stacked on top of each other. One was slightly bigger than the other, and they were tied to each other with a purple rope.

"Looks like we caught 'em napping," Shikamaru muttered. "But where's Sasuke?"

"Sasuke's in that coffin," Neji said to us. "I can't tell if he's dead or alive, though."

"And Noah?" I whispered.

"He's in that slightly smaller one. It looks like he's just knocked out."

"Wait 'till I…" I cracked my knuckles.

"Not yet," Shikamaru put his hand on my arm.

Suddenly, there was a _thunk!_ behind us. We turned and a kunai with three burning explosive tags had lodged itself into the bark of a tree.

"Shit!" I screamed. _Whoa, déjà vu._

I grabbed Angel and performed hand signs as fast as I could.

"Earth Style: Earth Wall Jutsu," I said quickly.

Just in time, a wall of earth rose above our backsides to protect us from the explosion. However, since we were so close to the blast, the force pushed us into the air and out into the clearing. We hit the ground and slid across it until we stopped right in front of them.

"Well, well," Sakon (the one with the two heads) sneered. "Look what we have here."

I groaned and lifted my head. All of the Sound Four were glaring at us. Jiroubou (a.k.a. Fatass) took a step forward.

"Wait a minute!" Shikamaru stood up. "We're here to negotiate, not fight!"

"Let's first not forget you friends!" Kidoumaru (six arm dude, a.k.a. Spider Man) replied.

He pulled three strings and Naruto, Chouji, and Kiba came flying through the air. Kiba threw down a smoke bomb and I suddenly realized this was my chance. I ripped out the scroll, rolled it open, made a hand sign, and the four dragons burst from the paper. Using my chakra, I directed all of them away from here to hide. As for the spiders, one crawled under the rope of the coffin and the other four silently attached themselves to Spider Man, Tayuya, Sakon, and Fatass. Perfect. The trap was set and my part was done, for now.

The smoke cleared and Kidoumaru explained that his threads were so fine that they were invisible and were strong too.

"Wow," I said sarcastically. "Big fucking whoop. Why don't you go tell someone who actually gives a shit? Like your mom, no wait, she'd probably eat you if you ever saw her again."

He looked like he was going to explode and stepped forward and I swear I saw a smirk flicker across Tayuya's features. Kidoumaru suddenly stopped and couldn't move.

"Alright!" Naruto grinned. "Way to go Shikamaru!"

I followed his gaze and realized Shikamaru had nailed all four of them while the smoke bomb had gone off. Now, was my _real_ chance. I made a hand sign and had two of the four dragons burst from their hiding spots and charge at the Sound Four. As they were about to breathe black flame all over the enemy, a trap sprang off and Shikamaru released the Jutsu. Kidoumaru destroyed the dragons with sticky wads of mush and they exploded into puddles of black ink.

Suddenly, I heard Jiroubou mutter, "Earth Style Barrier: Earth Dome Prison."

I hurriedly pulled out a kunai and took aim. Too late. The ground shook and a wall of rock surrounded us on all sides. The light flashed and became very dark, almost black.

"What?" Naruto looked around.

"We're trapped," Shikamaru muttered.

We all stood there in a circle, looking at nothing.

"It seems to be nothing more than a dirt wall," Neji said, putting a hand to the wall.

"It's a barrier of some kind," Shikamaru said. "We should be careful. It could be a trap within a trap."

"Ha!" Kiba smirked. "A wall's a wall! And there's nothing I can't punch through!"

"Yeah, I guess it's worth a try."

He performed a hand sign and jumped into the air. He started spinning at high speeds so he was just a blur and smashed into the wall. We all covered our eyes as dust and rocks were spat into the air. Finally, Kiba stopped and landed back to the ground. All he made was a small dent that had a swirl design. It then got smaller and smaller until it disappeared.

"Hey, did you guys…?" Kiba pointed to where he had made the damage.

"Yes," Neji and I chorused monotonously.

"LET US OUT!" Naruto yelled.

Silence. Dead silence. The only noise I heard was Kiba panting and Angel sniffing the wall. She suddenly growled and barked at it.

"What is it?" I asked.

_There's some kind of force surrounding the exterior of this barrier. I think it's chakra, but I'm not sure._

"What did she say?" Naruto asked.

I opened my mouth to answer, but Neji interrupted. "It seems to be more than a dirt wall."

I turned and searched his face. He had his Byakugun activated, and I could tell he knew what Angel had told me, even though he couldn't understand it.

"Our chakra is been absorbed by it," he whispered. "As if it were a sponge."

"Great, it's not enough for them to bury us alive in this oversized dung heap, but they steal our chakra," Kiba said. "You gotta give these guys credit for thoroughness."

Naruto then had a spazz attack about how they can't do this to us and crap. I sat down and leaned up against the wall, waiting for my eyes to adjust to the dark and watch as everyone slowly dropped to the ground, one by one.

I rapped my knuckles against the wall, just to see what it was made of. Solid rock and dirt, that's all it I could feel. I then kneeled onto the floor and felt it too. It was the same.

I sighed and stared at the ground. Wait a minute. Did the ground have the same barrier as the walls and ceiling? Probably not.

"Why can't I just dig our way out?" I muttered to myself.

"What?" Shikamaru looked at me.

I performed the hand signs and waited for the chakra to become visible and claw-like.

"What are you doing?" asked Chouji.

"Earth Style: Claw Dig Jutsu," I said, answering his question.

I looked down and smashed my hands repeatedly into the dirt ground. I squeezed my eyes shut so the crap wouldn't get in my eyes.

As I was doing this, Kiba decided to give it another shot. He fed Akamaru a Soldier Pill and the small puppy's fur turned crimson. Angel decided to have one too so that her fur turned a blend of dark and light grays and white, she grew about the size of an average gray wolf and looked like one too. She then dug into the ground beside me with her new and improved claws of death.

Akamaru transformed into a clone of Kiba, and they both performed the Fang Over Fang Jutsu.

We all stopped at about the same time to see if we made any progress. Unfortunately, all we got was the same result as Kiba had gotten before.

Angel stayed in her new wolfish form while Akamaru changed back to his normal self and crawled into Kiba's arms.

"As soon as a crack appears, it repairs itself," he growled.

"It's the same with the ground," I clenched my fists. "Damn it."

Silence wafted through the air again. I stared at the swirly dents and watched as they slowly disappeared. Kiba said something about only ten minutes left before our chakra is completely drained, but I barely paid any attention to him.

"Hey out there!" Shikamaru suddenly yelled. "Let me talk to your leader! I've got a deal to propose."

"Hm?" I switched my gaze to him.

"What I'm thinking is that you let us out, and in return, we let you keep Sasuke."

"Huh?" Kiba and Naruto turned to him around.

"What about the kid?" the voice asked a couple seconds later.

"You can keep him too for all I give a shit," Shikamaru replied.

"What?" I stared at him.

"No deal," the voice replied after a moment. "I've never let a captive go before and I'm not about to start now."

"Aw come on," Shikamaru groaned. "Listen, how about you let me go and keep the others? All this fighting, I'm tired of it. It's really not my thing."

"You coward!" Kiba shouted. "If you're selling us out, then I'm going to…"

"Beat the shit out of you!" I growled, standing up and starting to walk towards him, finishing Kiba's threat. "There's no way in hell I'm leaving my brother behind! And if you think that's what I'm gonna do then screw you!"

"Shut up, Madeline," replied Shikamaru bitterly.

"What did you say?!" I clenched my fists.

"You heard me."

It was as if something inside me snapped. I instantly gathered chakra into my fist and shot a punch at Shikamaru. However, my hand never made contact with his face. Instead, a hand caught mine and stopped it in its tracks. I looked up and realized it was Naruto who had stopped me.

"Calm down, Madeline," he had that serious look on his face again.

"Why should I?" I growled back, pushing my fist harder into his hand.

"Because everything will fall apart if we don't work together!"

I searched his piercing aquamarine eyes and realized he was right. My anger instantly ceased, my face softened, and I pulled my fist away, which had been slightly shaking.

Jiroubou laughed and remarked that Shikamaru was a setting a perfect (sarcastically) example for the team leader and that he deserves to…

"Shut up!" I growled, my anger instantly flaring again. "Just shut the hell up!"

"Heh, I suppose you're the stubborn, short-tempered one of the group who mouthed off to Kidoumaru earlier, huh?" just from hearing his voice I could tell he was smirking.

"No, I'm the bitch that's gonna kick your ass once we get outta here!"

"Heh, I bet you and Tayuya would make great friends, considering the fact that you both use such foul language. It's too bad you have to die. So, just keep dreaming, little girl."

"What did you call me?!"

I gathered chakra into my right fist until it glowed a bright white flame. I then pulled my arm back and smashed the wall with all of my remaining strength. There was a loud _BOOM!_ and the dome shook. When the dust had settled, all I was presented with was a dent that swirled.

"FUCK!!" I yelled.

I punched it again and again, until my chakra couldn't form around my hand and couldn't protect it so it ached. I stood there, panting, my shoulders and chest rising and falling. Soon, I got tired and sat down on the ground. I held my head and angry tears sprang to the corner of my eyes.

"Dear God, just kill me now," I murmured.

I could feel everyone's eyes on me and I tried to ignore it as much as possible.

"Hey, Madeline," it was Naruto whispering.

"What?" I looked up at him, my voice like metal.

"…You okay?"

I continued to stare at him, then closed my eyes and slowly shook my head. As I wiped my eyes with the back of my hand, I noticed something on Naruto's right hand.

"Naruto," I said. "Let me see your hand for a sec."

Naruto looked at his hand to me. "Oh, don't worry about that, it's nothing."

I held out my hand and the blonde ninja reluctantly gave me his hand. I stared at the inside of his hand and instantly felt bad for what I had done. The first layer of skin had somehow become burned off and blisters were already starting to form.

"Oh my God, Naruto. I'm so sorry," I squeezed his wrist gently. "Here, let me bandage it for you."

I cleaned the wound with sanitizer, applied some cream, and wrapped bandaging cloth around his hand.

"Wow, it feels better already," Naruto looked at his hand. "Thanks Maddie."

I stood up and hugged him.

"Naruto, I didn't mean to hurt you. Honestly."

"Yeah, but you meant to…" he trailed off.

I knew what he was going to say and I switched my gaze to Shikamaru, who had squatted into his thinking position. I walked over and sat down next to him on my knees.

"Shikamaru, listen, I'm so sorry," I looked down at my hands. "I was just…angry. I never meant to hurt you. I swear it'll never-"

"It's alright, Maddie," Shikamaru placed his hand on my shoulder. "I understand, so don't worry about it."

I stared at him and wondered how he can just brush off what I was going to do. I then pushed that thought to the back of my mind and let him think of a strategy for us to get out of here. I sat up against the cold rock wall and watched Chouji chomp on chips and Neji explain to Naruto that only Taijutsu could destroy the barrier would work.

"What about Madeline?" Naruto turned to me.

I cocked an eyebrow at him.

"No, not now," Neji shook his head.

Suddenly, Shikamaru looked up and smirked.

"Neji," he said. "I need you to focus those eyes of yours on the wall behind you and behind Chouji. You think you have enough chakra left for that?"

Neji nodded.

"Alright," Shikamaru stood up. "Kiba, you up for another try to put up another dent in the wall behind Chouji? What about you, Madeline? Do you have enough chakra?"

"Well, yeah, I guess," Kiba replied.

"I think so," I shrugged.

I stood up and performed Claw Dig Jutsu into the wall while Kiba did his Tunneling Fang. After we were done, I collapsed to the ground, panting, while Neji looked around.

"Okay, nice job," Shikamaru said. "Take a rest, guys. You've done enough. Madeline, try not to use that hand much until we get a move on again. Now, Neji, mark that spot with your kunai knife in the wall, will you? Chouji, you ready, buddy?"

"I was born ready!" Chouji smirked.

"Good, then let's get started."

Naruto asked what that meant and Neji explained that there are weaker points of chakra in the wall than others. He said that Shikamaru observed that walls as Kiba, Akamaru, Angel, and I attacked the interior of the dome. For him to be sure, he spoke to our captor the way that he did to trick him into giving his position away. This confirmed his suspicions that the band of chakra was weakest on the opposite spot of his position.

Shikamaru smirked, confirming that Neji was right, while I kneeled on the ground, removed my right glove, and started to bandage my bruised and scraped hand.

"So I got all pissed off for nothing?" I asked, looking up from my bandaging. "God, that sucks."

"Yeah, and I'm sorry about that," Shikamaru smiled, kneeling down next to me and helped me bandage my hand. "I didn't mean for you to blow up like that. I'll make it up to you, alright?"

I smiled back and nodded.

"Okay, Chouji, it's your turn."

"Okay!"

Chouji performed the Expansion Jutsu. I almost busted a gut when he screamed 'Barooom!' as he blew up into a giant ball (Human Boulder) and smashed into the wall, rolling and rolling and rolling. Rocks and dust flew in our faces as Chouji repeated the process until the wall burst open. We all rushed out, finally free from that godforsaken prison. I kneeled on the ground, putting my glove back on, and watched as the earth dome caved in and collapsed in a pile of rubble.

"That was awesome Chouji," Shikamaru smirked.

Chouji smiled and laughed a bit. My eyes scanned the area and found that Jiroubou was the only one left. The others must've gone ahead and taken the coffins with them.

"Damn it," I clenched my fists slightly. "They left."

"Terrific," Shikamaru groaned sarcastically.

Jiroubou smirked and clapped mockingly.

"Well, well, not too bad you guys," he said. "For a bunch of losers."

"What?!" Naruto cried.

"Who are you calling losers?!" Kiba growled.

They both took off towards Jiroubou.

"Now that we're out, you're toast!" Kiba threatened while running.

"Outta the way, this guy's mine!" Naruto said.

I took a step forward and Angel growled.

"Wait you guys!" Neji shouted.

All three of us turned and looked at him.

"We can't go up against him. It's too dangerous."

"We just tore through this guy's barrier!" Kiba protested. "How tough can he be?"

He performed Tunneling Fang, but got flicked away as if he were a mere fly. Naruto sprang forward and performed Shadow Clone Jutsu. While Jiroubou was busy slapping Naruto away and head butting the clone, I made a hand sign to have one of the two dragons attack him. Just as it was about to pounce, Kiba crashed into me from being shouldered along with Naruto who had just gotten kneed in the gut.

Fatass put his hands to the ground and rocks shot up from the ground, pushing the three of us back. The ground shook and Jiroubou called out his jutsu (what an idiot) Earth Style Barrier: Earth Dome Prison.

Realizing that we weren't protected, I made a last attempt to save us by attempting to summon my voodoo doll. It'll use a Genjustsu to transform into a doll version of Fatass and even if it did get hit, the same thing would happen to him. Well, at least I tried to. I didn't have enough chakra to even summon the doll, let alone make it attack.

Suddenly, Chouji performed Expansion Jutsu: Human Boulder again and spun around until it created enough dust in the air for us to escape into the trees.

**So much drama! DX It actually took me a while to type this. Well, keep reading!**


	20. Leaving Everyone Behind

**Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto or any of the brand names I mention in this story. I also don't own any of the music lyrics that appear.**

Chapter 20

Leaving Everyone

Behind

I sat down on the ground, well, more like collapsed, and sighed.

"We're running out of time," Shikamaru groaned. "There's no choice. We gotta split up."

We stared at him and Angel growled. _Not again, God dammit!_

Neji explained that since we all had our chakra drained, Jiroubou wouldn't be easy to take out even if we all six attacked him. And since Sasuke and Noah were getting closer and closer to the border every minute, we should split into two groups: one to stop Jiroubou and the other to follow Sasuke and Noah.

Suddenly, the ground shook violently and cracked. A tree came toppling over and Naruto and I had to jump out of the way before getting crushed.

"Found you," Jiroubou smirked.

"Neji," Shikamaru said, forming a hand sign. "You take Madeline, Kiba, and Chouji and head after Sasuke and Noah. Naruto, you and I will handle this guy."

Jiroubou just laughed and told him not to waste his time trying out the Shadow Possession Jutsu again, because he's already seen it. He then jammed his hand into the ground and dirt flew everywhere around him. We looked around and realized that he had disappeared. Angel sniffed the air and growled.

"He's behind us!" Kiba cried.

We all whipped around and saw Jiroubou about fifty yards away from us, holding a boulder about the size of the average two-story house.

"Earth Style: Sphere of Grains!" he boomed.

"You've gotta be shittin' me!" I cried, staring at the ginormous rock.

We jumped out of the way as he threw the boulder and it rolled a path of death and destruction behind us. When the dust, dirt, and pebbles settled, the ground shook violently again. Jiroubou suddenly burst from the ground and he grabbed both of Shikamaru's ankles, having him dangle upside down. He then blabbed on and on about how Shikamaru was an idiot of a leader and shit.

When he was finished, Jiroubou swung Shikamaru in the air like a lasso and threw him in the air towards a tree. Not wanting Chouji to use up any more of his chakra, I made a hand sign and had one of the dragons catch Shikamaru by grabbing him by the shoulders with their talons.

"Thanks, Madeline," he sighed in relief.

"So, you must be the bitch that was going to kick my ass," Jiroubou smirked. "I don't know which is more pathetic, the fool or the ones that follow him. Tell you what, I'll just kill you now and put you out of your misery."

He started to chuckle to himself, and that pissed me off.

"Hey, Fatass!" I called.

Jiroubou suddenly stopped laughing and glared right into my eyes.

"What did you call me?!" he growled.

"A fatass," I replied calmly. "Someone who is extremely overweight and acts like a donkey. Now, you have two choices: you can either shut the hell up, or I can come over there and make you."

"Don't push it," Shikamaru whispered to me.

"Ungrateful little shit, aren't you?" Jiroubou snarled.

"Hm?" I turn my head in his direction like I wasn't paying attention. "Oh, I'm sorry. Am I supposed to be insulted now?"

"That's it. You're going to die right here, right now."

"No!" Chouji cried. "Let me handle him. This guy is mine."

We turned and stared at him.

"Are you crazy?!" Naruto exclaimed. "You can't handle this guy all by yourself!"

"He's mine, I said!"

"But…" I started, not liking where this was going.

"Shikamaru, take these food pills for everyone," Chouji pulled out a small brown bag.

He handed it to Shikamaru and walked towards Jiroubou. Fatass charged at us and said he was going to take us all out right then and there.

"Get, going. Hurry!" Chouji jumped in front of us.

He pulled out a small, transparent rectangular prism that contained three pills, each a different color. Chouji lifted the green one to his mouth and ate it.

"Get outta my way, you joke!" Jiroubou yelled.

Chouji stepped forward and put his arms in front of him, stopping Fatass from charging.

"Shikamaru, take everyone and get outta here!" he grunted. "What did the six of us join together for? If we lose Noah and Sasuke, we'll be just what this guy says we are: a stupid idiot of a leader and his band of rejects!"

Shikamaru was silent for a moment.

"You better catch up with us Chouji, you hear?" he said.

"Yeah! Just go already!"

"Alright, let's move everyone!"

Everyone nodded but me and took off into the trees.

"C'mon, Maddie, let's go," Shikamaru called from a tree branch.

"But Chouji…" I glanced nervously behind me.

"He'll be fine. Come on! We don't have time to stand around!"

I sighed and realized he was right. As I made the dragons come along with us, I turned around and managed to see Chouji push Jiroubou across the ground about a hundred feet, lift him up, and throw him into the air.

"Here," Shikamaru threw Naruto the bag of food pills. "A parting gift from Chouji."

Naruto caught it, ate a pill, and passed it to Kiba. Kiba fed one to Akamaru, grabbed one for himself, and threw it to me.

"Your chakra is basically gone," Neji told me. "You better take two pills instead of one just to be safe."

I caught the bag, untied the string, and pulled out three pills. Angel, still in her wolf form and leaping beside me, ate one from my hand as I flung it to Neji.

I examined the two food pills before tossing them into my mouth. They were round, black little things that tasted like those 'World's Smallest Jawbreakers' that you buy at the Sweetfactory at some cheap mall.

Instantly, I felt my chakra rush back into my body. In fact, it came back so fast and it was so strong, that my head started to pound and my stomach started to ache. I clutched it and tried to shake off the pain. Angel made a noise that was a cross between a whimper and a growl.

_Hey, don't feel bad. _

"Why?" I looked at her.

'_Cause I'm going through the same pain as you are right now. We share the same freakin' demon, remember? There's nothing we can do except to bite the bullet._

"Yeah, I guess."

"Shikamaru, what was that certain pill that we saw Chouji take back there?" Neji asked. "It seemed like a last minute trump card. Do you really think that he could win?"

"Don't worry," Shikamaru replied. "Chouji brought with him the Akamichi clan's secret triple threat. There are three pills: green, yellow, and red. The power that each of those pills contain is absolutely massive.

"However, with pills like that, they always come with side effects."

We nodded, understanding.

Akamaru sniffed and suddenly whimpered.

_Is Chouji even able to beat that guy?_

Angel barked.

_Yeah. When I sniffed him, he smelled pretty strong to me. He must have an enormous amount of chakra._

Kiba and I turned our heads towards the both of them and exchanged glances.

"I don't know," I replied.

"Yeah, I was just thinkin' the same thing," Kiba remarked.

"What is it?" Naruto asked.

"He's worried that Chouji might not be able to beat that guy on his own with just those pills," Kiba replied.

"Yeah. Angel said that he had a lot of chakra when she smelled him," I added.

"Yes, that is correct," Neji said. "That guy did have a lot of strength. But that's usually the case in battle."

"Neji's right," Shikamaru agreed. "That's just how a battle is. We knew from the beginning that this mission wouldn't be child's play, it's life or death. I've already anticipated the worse case scenario where each of us ends up fighting alone. And at this point, if we're not willing to lay down our lives for this, we may not be able to reach Noah and Sasuke in time."

I ever so slightly chewed my lower lip, earning myself a glance from Neji.

"Chouji's good enough to hold his own," Shikamaru continued. "But he doesn't have enough confidence in himself. He thinks that out of all of us, he's the weakest link."

"That's because the guy kinda is," Kiba said. "I mean anyone can see that. The whole point of him staying behind back there is because he wanted to be some kind of help."

I glanced at him out of the corner of my eye, but didn't say anything.

_No,_ I thought. _He's much stronger than he looks. More than all of us combined._

Shikamaru, who had become silent, looked up and smirked.

"Just as I thought," he said. "Everyone's always that way about Chouji. But me…"

He paused to turn to me and smile. Had he somehow heard my thoughts? Wait…did I say that OUTLOUD?!

"I've always known the real truth. More than me, or Neji, or anyone here, Chouji's got strength. I believe in him, I've always have."

Shikamaru jumped to the ground, pulled out a kunai, and started to scratch an arrow into the bark of a tree.

"It's for Chouji," he explained. "He promised us he would catch up. When he wins, he'll come here and follow the arrow."

We stood there, watching him. Naruto's face suddenly brightened and he took out a kunai knife of his own.

"Well, since we stopped," he smiled at us.

"Hey, good idea," Kiba smirked

"Yeah," I agreed.

We both pulled out kunai knives and crouched next to Naruto. Neji smiled as I carved this message into the tree's tough skin, below Shikamaru's arrow and to the left of Kiba's and Naruto's.

Kick that guy's ass for me!

Maddie

Angel trotted up next to me and put her paw to the tree, whimpering.

_I wanna leave a message too!_

"What do you want to say?" I asked.

_Hmmm…I dunno…You know what, just leave my name by yours._

"Okay, hang on."

I did what she told me and she barked a thanks. When everything I wrote was done, the writing suddenly transformed into Japanese kanji. Kiba and Naruto snickered at mine as they whittled their own.

"Alright, everyone," Shikamaru put away his knife. "Let's get Noah and Sasuke before Chouji catches up."

He and Neji took off, leaving us behind. We looked up, startled.

"Hey, wait up!" Kiba cried.

"Don't just ditch us!" I got up.

I jumped onto a branch and followed the two. Kiba and Naruto soon came after and we changed back into formation.

Along the way, we stopped again so Shikamaru could put another arrow on a tree. After we took off, we once again changed back into formation.

Seven minutes later, I heard Naruto ask Shikamaru what was wrong. Something landed on my forearm, tickling it. I flinched and looked down. My thumbnail size spider that I had drawn was peering up at me with its eight eyes. I brought my arm level with my eyes so I could look at the tiny arachnid.

_Looks like he won, _I thought. _But it doesn't have anything. Does that mean…?_

Since we were all going to fight one on one, I had the spiders attached to the enemy come to me if our side won, bearing some evidence from the person. If they lost, the spider would blow itself up.

So, if the spider came back, but with no evidence of Chouji, does that mean it was a double knockout?

"Was it…?" I whispered to the spider.

Its head bobbed up and down as a _Yes_.

"…Okay…" I whispered again, letting it crawl on my shoulder and up my neck.

I then turned towards Shikamaru, giving him a half blank, half sad look. His eyes widened ever so slightly and he nodded.

"Huh?" Naruto looked from me to Shikamaru. "What's going on? Maddie! What the hell is that on your face?!"

I sighed quietly, picked up the spider, and flicked it towards him. Naruto cringed as it landed on him, but didn't squish or swat it away.

"What is this?" he asked.

Kiba and Neji turned to look at me.

"It's one of the spiders I drew before we first attacked the Sound Four. Remember that scroll I was drawing on? I added five spiders to it while you guys weren't paying attention. When Kiba threw down that smoke bomb, I released both the dragons and spiders. I had the spiders attach themselves to the coffin and to each of our opponents. When a spider returns to me, it means that we have won the battle. If it doesn't, it means we lost."

"So, that means Chouji won…right?" Kiba restated.

I opened my mouth to say maybe not, but decided against it.

"…Yeah…He won alright. Don't worry. I'm pretty sure that he should be catching up with us soon."

Kiba and Naruto grinned and gave each other high fives, Neji studied me before nodding unsurely, and Shikamaru looked at me confusingly. We both knew the truth, but we couldn't bear to accept it and tell the others. So, I just told them what they wanted to hear. They'll have to find out sooner or later though.

Akamaru sniffed and barked.

"We're close," Kiba translated.

Angel barked too.

_Super close!_

"Strange," Neji said a moment later. "It's been a pretty long time and we still haven't run into any traps yet. Well, Shikamaru, what's your assessment?"

"It seems to me like we've been underestimated," Shikamaru remarked. "They're cocky. They think we're all dead now, and their big guy is the only one following them. There's no need to set a trap for their own man."

"They think we're weak!" Naruto cried.

"Bastards," I muttered.

"It seems like your right, Shikamaru," Neji continued. "And it's insulting to be underestimated like this. However, this could be our chance."

"Yeah, now we can take 'em by surprise," Shikamaru smirked. "Alright, this is what we're gonna do."

I watched from my perch on a tree branch as Shikamaru's form of Jiroubou charged towards Kidoumaru. Sakon and Tayuya took off, leaving Spider Man to block 'Jiroubou's' fist. Fatass disappeared in a cloud of smoke, revealing Shikamaru.

"Well, you got me," he smirked.

Shikamaru then kicked Kidoumaru, who blocked it and spat a spider web at him. Shikamaru was blown back and stuck to a tree.

Suddenly, Naruto's six clones flew above the Sound ninja's head, aiming their fists. Kidoumaru jumped backwards off the branch, spat a mushy ball of web into his hands, and threw it towards the clones. The ball exploded into an enormous web and the clones flew right into it.

As Spider Man was in the air, Kiba and Akamaru performed the Fang Over Fang Jutsu, but failed miserably as he swung from threads and landed upside down on a branch.

"I won't let you get away!" Kiba cried.

"Heh, you stole my line, punk," Kidoumaru smirked. "Why don't you look down at your feet?"

The two Kibas looked down and realized that they were trapped in sticky webbing that laced the tree branch.

While Spider Man hung there, Neji came up behind him, poised to attack with his Gentle Fist Technique. However, Kidoumaru let go of his strings and Neji flew right past him. Forming another ball, Spider Man had another giant web explode right towards Neji.

_Looks like I'm the only one left,_ I thought.

As Kidoumaru was busy forming a cocoon around Neji, I whipped out my scroll and quickly painted a fiery phoenix. I then released it and watched as it soared silently through the air, its talons outstretched. Naruto and Kiba smirked as the bird breathed black fire towards Spider Man.

The flames were about to make their mark when Kidoumaru jumped out of the way and blew out a web. My phoenix dodged it, screeched, and blew fire again. As Spider Man was dodging again, I threw a kunai with an explosive tag attached to it at the branch he had just landed on. There was an explosion and I thought about performing the Substitution Jutsu just in case something was to happen, but decided against it.

When the smoke cleared, Kidoumaru had disappeared and my phoenix was struggling in a web of its own. Not needing to be fed a food pill and transform, Angel sniffed the air.

_Ha! Found him, the coward!_

Angel leaped off into a direction while I drew two fierce-looking wolves to help. Suddenly, there was a loud bark from Angel.

_I got the bastard! Hurry!_

My eyebrows rose slightly as I jumped to another branch. Peering through some leaves, I spotted her and my wolves. Angel was sitting on Kidoumaru's back, pinning him to the ground. Her paws were on top of his head, forcing it into the dirt. My wolves each had an arm pinned to the ground with their claws and two in their deadly chops.

"Perfect," I muttered.

I performed some hand seals and a giant block of earth rose from the ground above Spider Man's head. I released the jutsu and the three wolves jumped out of the way before the block crushed the ninja's body.

When the dust settled, the body of Kidoumaru disappeared in a cloud of smoke. My eyes narrowed and my three canines instantly growled and started sniffing.

"A clone," I grumbled. "Crap."

Before I could do anything else, something sticky lashed at the entire front side of my body and sent my flying towards a tree trunk. However, I activated the Substitution Jutsu and stayed safely up on a branch. I watched as the clone hit the trunk and turn into a log.

"Why don't you come out little girl," Kidoumaru growled. "There's no use in hiding. I know what you look like."

_You want me to come out and fight? _I thought, starting to perform hand seals. _All right then. Game on._

I created the last hand sign and instantly activated a Genjutsu where I attack him at all sides with a kunai. When he hits 'me,' I fade away like a ghost and reappear somewhere else.

While Spider Man was dealing with this, I slid out a kunai knife of my own, fell silently to the branch Kidoumaru was on, jumped through the air, and plunged it towards his back. He whipped around and grabbed my wrist that was clutching the knife's handle. His hand was so big and so tight around my tiny wrist, that I was afraid that he might cut off the circulation.

"Heh, I'll give you some credit," Spider Man smirked. "You certainly know who to keep someone on their toes. It's just as Lord Orochimaru had told us."

Well that's ni-Wait……Huh?

My eyes narrowed slightly and gave him a punch with my left fist. Kidoumaru's smirk became bigger as he blocked it with perfect ease.

"Yes," he continued. "He told us. Once I finish off your loser friends here…"

He spat a web at me and I was thrown backwards at a tree trunk. The stuff was damp, mushy, and stuck to me and the tree like super glue.

Hm…ain't this familiar? Last time I checked, I almost died when I was pinned to a tree against my will.

"We'll kill your pathetic brother and bring you to Lord Orochimaru," he finished.

I saw Naruto's eyes widen and Kiba's eyebrows rise while Shikamaru remained silent. Spider Man laughed a bit evilly, trapped Angel in a web, and searched my eyes for some sort of emotion. Well, what was he expecting? Sadness? Anger? Hatred? Too bad, he's not getting any. I can't overreact like I did in the Earth Dome thing when he's inches from my face. Fatass was on the outside, so he couldn't really take advantage of me, but it's different now.

There's only one thing I did, and yep, you guessed it: I stared calmly right back at him with no emotion whatsoever. This irritated him, I could tell, 'cause his smirk disappeared and his eyes narrowed. Well, what did he want me to do? Burst into tears and beg for mercy? Yeah right. Time to deliver the _real_ attack.

My eyes locked onto his to make sure he was paying attention.

"I got a better idea," I said, trying to pull off a smartass tone and not smile at the same time. "Why don't you just go and fuck yourself?"

A vein started to throb ominously on Kidoumaru's forehead, but I didn't care.

"Or maybe you could try Orochimaru," I continued. "Then we can find out if he's truly gay or not, considering the fact that he's always after Sasuke and Itatchi."

Spider Man spat some golden stuff into one of his hands, stretched it out, and held the L shaped thing in one of his hands. About twenty seconds later, it hardened and grew spikes.

"You should really learn to keep your mouth shut, smartass," he snarled, raising the weapon. "I don't know why Lord Orochimaru…"

"Hold on a sec," Shikamaru called out, interrupting. "You might want to think twice before doing that. You kill her, and more than half of your planning, hard work, and your mission will be ruined. Orochimaru's after her, and if you kill her, he'll most likely kill you, if not your whole squad as your punishment."

Kidoumaru stared at him for a while, and then an evil smile spread across his face. He formed five more of the spiky, boomerang, weapon-things and held one in each of his six hands.

"Hm…your little boyfriend has a point," he said to me. "Okay, let's make this a little more interesting then."

Spider Man jumped down to a tree branch and turned to Naruto and his clones.

"Since you'll be my first victim, why don't we make this a little entertaining? The first one will be the one on the far left."

He threw one of the club-things at a clone, where it stuck in its side and the clone disappeared in a puff of smoke. Kidoumaru threw another and a clone was taken of the web.

"You've been a pretty lucky guy," he smirked. "I'm gonna throw two this time, so it'll be double the chances."

Kidoumaru chucked two boomerangs at two clones, and they disappeared in a cloud.

"Ha ha ha!" he laughed. "Do you know how lucky you are?! This time I'll have a fifty percent chance of hitting the real one."

A club went flying and a clone vanished.

"Look's like this loser made it all the way to the bitter end," Spider Man's eyes narrowed. "Oh well. It was nice playing with you. One down, three to go."

_Great, _I thought. _I get spared and taken to some asshole that's crazy with living eternily, while everyone else gets massacred._

The weapon stuck in Naruto's side. There was a yell…and then a puff of smoke.

"What?" Kidoumaru's eyes narrowed.

"Hiya!" Naruto came up from behind him, fist aimed at the ready.

Spider Man blocked the punch with his arms, swung on some threads, and landed on a tree branch. He then realized he had caught Naruto by the pinky with an almost transparent thread. He yanked and Naruto flew forward.

Suddenly, Neji jumped in, chopped the thread in half, and caught the shrimpy blond. He stepped onto a branch and set Naruto down. I then realized that Neji had rescued everyone, everyone _except me_. I'm the one Orochimaru's really after, and yet, I'm still stuck to this goddamn tree trunk.

Just as I was about to tell them to free me too, Neji appeared on a branch that was next to where I was.

"Don't move," he whispered. "Just stay calm."

I nodded and allowed him to chop the stringing of the web. As he continued the process, my eyes lay on Kidoumaru, watching, making sure he wouldn't pull off any tricks. Finally, Neji finished and he caught me before I fell. Damn, he's got strong arms. Neji then carried me to the branch where everyone else was and gently set me down.

Akamaru whimpered and crawled into Kiba's jacket.

"Look's like this guy's much stronger than that last guy," Kiba translated.

"We're gonna have to go one on one if we have any chance of surviving," Neji said, as if we didn't already know what we had to do. "Isn't that what you said, Shikamaru?"

Shikamaru nodded, "That's what we agreed."

"If we all stay here," Neji continued. "We'll never catch up with Noah and Sasuke."

"What about Chouji?" Naruto asked. "He's not back yet and Madeline said he won."

I sweatdropped.

"We embarked on this mission to save Madeline's brother and bring him home. We're also trying to bring back Sasuke. These are two shinobi of the Hidden Leaf Village we are trying to rescue. Remember what Iruka said at the Third Hokage's funeral?"

There was silence as everyone remembered what Iruka had said. I racked my brain too, but nothing came to me, even though I've watched that episode a billion times. Looks like I didn't pay attention to what someone had said. Again.

"Listen, Sasuke and Noah are on their way right now towards Orochimaru. We can not let such evil get a hold of our shinobi. That is not our way. What's more…"

Neji turned towards Naruto and smiled a little.

"Naruto, sometimes your eyes are better than mine."

He paused, allowing Naruto to analyze what had just come out of his mouth. Neji then turned away, so his back was facing us.

"Wherever he is, Sasuke's in the darkness. Maddie…save your brother. Whatever happens, you must bring him back, for your sake."

Now it was my turn to stare at him confusingly. Goddamit, does he always have to speak in metaphors?

"Now, get going. I'll be right behind you."

Shikamaru nodded and stood up.

"Alright," he said. "Let's move and finish this thing."

Kiba, Naruto, and I nodded and we took off. I took one more backwards glance at Neji before turning my head towards Shikamaru and giving him a worried look. He too glanced behind him, turned back to me, and nodded, giving me an assuring smile.

Akamaru sniffed and Angel whimpered.

_Those two are right up ahead._

I sighed in relief. We had been pursuing Tayuya and Sakon for quite a bit of time, probably three to four hours at the least. The sun was setting, turning the sky bright shades of orange and yellow. Slants of apricot sunlight shone into our faces as we leapt from tree branch to tree branch.

"We're close," Kiba told us.

"Finally," I muttered.

"Yeah, and it's four against two," Shikamaru added. "I like those odds."

"Four against two?" Naruto grinned. "We'll beat 'em for sure!"

Akamaru barked and Angel growled.

_Hey, what about us?!_ _It's six against two, you retards!_

Kiba glared at Shikamaru and Naruto while I just rolled my eyes.

"Oops, sorry, Akamaru," Shikamaru apologized. "You too, Angel. It's actually six against two. I like those odds even better."

Kiba and Naruto started rambling on how they could beat Sakon and Tayuya with their oh-so-super-powerful jutsus. Kiba and Akamaru would use their 'new' technique, and Naruto could beat the snot out of them with his Shadow Clones.

"Yeah, but remember we're working together," Shikamaru countered. "Just stick to the plan."

"Come on!" Kiba shouted. "If we hurry, we can catch up with them!"

I yawned and rubbed the corner of my eye with the back of my hand. The sun had set and a full silver moon was hanging in the dark navy sky. Thin, feathery, cirrus clouds slowly moved across the sky and passed in front of the moon.

"No," Shikamaru said. "We're going to stay right on their tail, but not attack until the sun comes up."

"Why can't we just attack them now?" Kiba asked. "If we're going to launch a surprise attack on them, it'll be better in the dark!"

"We may have an advantage for a small amount of time, but we need to keep them occupied while we get Sasuke and Noah out of there. We can't risk going in on them while wondering around in the dark. They could just guard the two coffins and wait until we attack them. It would be different if we had Neji though."

"Bottom line: they would have the overall advantage," I summarized.

"What about mine, Akamaru's, and Angel's sense of smell?" Kiba growled. "And Madeline's sense of hearing and sight?"

"Yeah, but they still have the geography in their favor," Shikamaru answered. "Plus, there are clouds covering the moon, so my jutsu is useless. We'll just have to wait until sunrise."

I groaned impatiently and Angel snapped at my hand.

_Just wait will you? Once sunrise hits, you can beat the shit out of those guys as much as you want._

Golden sunlight streamed in through the emerald leaves, warming my entire body.

"Yes!" I shot my arms into the air. "Sweet, warm sunlight! Finally, something to heat up my cold and numb body! Thank you, God!"

"You were cold?" Naruto asked.

"Well, yeah. No matter where I am, I'm always cold, even if I wear a jacket."

"Alright," Shikamaru interrupted us. "Let's put this plan to work."

I watched as the fight started not too far, but not too close, from my perch in a tree branch. Sakon jumped off his and Tayuya's branch and flew towards the other three. Shikamaru and Kiba leaped towards him while Naruto created a clone and started to form the Rasengan.

I pulled out my painting scroll, rolled it out over my lap, and waited for the signal. Sakon pounded Shikamaru and Kiba with a series of punches (Fist Barrage) and they fell back, disappearing in a cloud of smoke. As Two Heads fell towards the branch Naruto was on, Naruto raised his hand, now swirling with chakra, and 'threw' it at him. Sakon grabbed the blonde's wrist and the energy fizzled away.

Naruto disappeared in a _poof_ and Kiba performed Tunneling Fang towards Two Heads. He ducked and the spinning bullet of Kiba whizzed towards Tayuya and the coffins. Shikamaru nailed her with his Shadow Possession Jutsu and I noticed that Sakon was going after Kiba's form.

Bingo.

Using my chakra, I hurriedly drew an eagle, released it from the paper, and nodded to Angel. She howled and pounced behind Sakon, claws outstretched and mouth wide open. Shikamaru released Tayuya's shadow and the two sound ninja crashed into each other with my wolf-dog on top. She pinned them down and snarled right into their faces.

Meanwhile, Kiba had grabbed the two coffins and threw them to Naruto from hanging upside down in a branch. However, Noah's coffin became undone as it flew and started to fall. My eagle caught the rope with its talons and flew away with Naruto close behind.

"Come on, Madeline and Shikamaru, let's go!" Kiba shouted.

"We're coming!" Shikamaru replied.

I placed my scroll back into my pouch, stood, and took off.

"Little shits!" Tayuya called.

"Assholes!" I screamed back.

Angel disappeared in a cloud of smoke and turned into a gnarled tree branch, leaving the two sound ninja confused.

I didn't slow down until I was back in my position and had caught up to my eagle. It dropped the coffin into my arms and flew beside me.

"That was two easy," Shikamaru remarked. "They had left themselves wide open because they were overconfident."

"Whatever, it still worked!" Naruto cried happily.

"Yeah, but it's about teamwork. The whole is stronger than just some of its parts."

"They're coming up fast!" Kiba warned.

I looked behind me to find Sakon on our tail, covered in his curse mark.

_You guys done?_

I glanced down and found Angel and Akamaru still setting up the paper bombs.

"Not really!" I shouted. "Just finish up with those and get moving!"

_Right!_

A couple seconds later, there were countless explosions and we stopped and turned. Clouds of smoke rose into the air and the blasts lit up our faces.

"Yes," I smirked.

Trees started to smash to the ground and catch fire as Akamaru and Angel fled. Suddenly, Sakon burst from the chaos and used wire to tie Akamaru to a tree branch near an explosive tag. The bomb ignited as Angel turned on her heel and jumped back to the branch. The last thing I saw before the explosion was my dog pulling at the wire with her teeth and Kiba landing next to her.

The smoke cleared and revealed that all four of them had disappeared.

"No," I whispered. "There's no way in hell that just happened."

"You're mine now!" a voice cried.

We looked up and saw Tayuya speeding towards us. I clutched the barrel tightly like it was a treasure chest containing the world's most valuable jewel.

"I'll fight her," Shikamaru said quickly. "You two just take those coffins and carry out the mission!"

I stared at him, but was about to take off anyway, when Tayuya stopped on a branch about fifty feet away. Suddenly, my skin was crawling with goose bumps and I whipped around.

A dark figure landed on the barrel Naruto was supposed to be guarding, flipped in the air, and kicked the coffin off the branch. I held on to the coffin with Noah in it even tighter than before when his hands grasped it.

"Get your fucking hands off my brother!!" I shrieked, gathering chakra to my right foot and kicking him in the chest.

His grip loosened greatly at the impact and I took that chance to rip the coffin away from his arms as he flew back. I jumped to another tree branch and turned around to look at my two teammates. Suddenly, a hand hit the back of my neck and I blacked out for a second. Before I knew it, I was falling and was about to hit a tree branch. I closed my eyes and braced for the impact, but it never came. Instead, two strong arms caught me and started to carry me. I opened my eyes and came face to face with a pair of aquamarine eyes.

"Naruto?" I asked, a little dazed.

He looked down at me and grinned stupidly. A few seconds later, he set me down on a branch.

"Are you okay?" Shikamaru kneeled next to me.

"Yeah, I'm fine, thanks," I rubbed the back of my neck. "Wait, where the hell is…?"

As my eagle landed on my shoulder to see if I were alright, Shikamaru pointed to a tree branch about fifty feet away from ours. The man had the two coffins right next to him, stacked on top one another.

My eagle screeched in rage, but I put my hand on its foot so it couldn't charge. I then looked the new enemy up and down. He was tall, had part of his long silver hair in two plaits, and had what seemed like red eyeliner on. Two red circles dotted his forehead and he wore the same outfit as the other Sound Four members.

As he and Tayuya spoke from across the trees, I learned he was Kimimaro and that he had 'cheated' death. His life force has 'intensified' and he understands _much _more now. The vessels are what Orochimaru craves, and she (Tayuya) had taken too long to bring them to him.

I gave him a cold stare, cracked my knuckles, and stood up.

"Hey!" I yelled. "Why don't you stop your chitchatting and fight?!"

"Yeah!" Naruto cried. "I'm taking you out right now!"

He leaped towards Kimimaro, but got punched by Ms. Bitch, who had jumped in front of the giant. The blonde fell and my eagle dove and caught him by the shoulders. It then set him on a branch where Shikamaru and I had anticipated where he was going to fall. I knelt down on one knee and nodded to my creation.

Kimimaro leapt down next to Tayuya and they whispered to each other. No more than a minute later, he stood up, fastened the two coffins together, and took off with them.

"He's taking them!" Naruto cried. "I have to go get Sasuke!"

I started to dig my fingernails from my left hand into the bark of the branch and my eagle dug its talons into my shoulder.

"No," I whispered. "I'm not letting anyone that close to me get taken away again."

"Calm down, you two," Shikamaru said.

"How can I calm down?!" Naruto screamed.

I clenched my fists until my knuckles turned white and started shaking slightly, almost feeling my blood pound through my ears.

"Relax," Shikamaru put a hand on my shoulder.

I inhaled deeply though my nose, exhaled through it, and focused the on the warmth coming from Shikamaru's hand.

"Alright, here's the plan: I'm gonna say that we should attack her because it's three against one. We'll all charge at her, but I'll be the only one who'll be attacking. We need to get Noah and Sasuke back, so you two will jump over her and go after that guy. I'm counting on you guys to rescue them and bring 'em back to the village. I'll meet you there with Kiba, Chouji, and Neji."

"Don't forget Angel," I added.

"Don't worry, I won't. You guys got it?"

Naruto and I nodded.

"Alright, let's do this."

Shikamaru stood up and pulled out a kunai.

"It's three against one, so we have the advantage," he said to us, loudly.

"Huh, you little assholes won't have a chance," Tayuya smirked, twirling her flute with her fingers.

"Don't get so cocky, we have teamwork here. What do you say, guys?"

"Yeah, let's get her!" Naruto cried.

We all took off towards Ms. Bitch-A-Lot and my eagle leapt from my shoulder. It joined us in charging with its talons outstretched, ready to strike. Shikamaru got there first and slashed at Tayuya with his knife. She blocked it with her flute, naturally, while Naruto and I pretended to attack her. Instead, we flew over her head and landed on a tree branch. My eagle circled above Shikamaru's and Tayuya's heads.

"It worked!" Naruto whispered excitedly to me. "We tricked her!"

I smiled and glanced back at Shikamaru. He had a victorious smile on his face, but his eyes looked almost…sad.

"I'll see ya later!" Naruto patted his butt in Tayuya's direction.

We laughed at our success as we started to jump from branch to branch.

"You won't get away with this!" Tayuya screamed.

"Kiss my ass!" I called over my shoulder.

We had only been traveling for about five minutes, when I noticed that Naruto's eyes had turned a blood red and his 'whiskers' became more detailed. Not only that, his teeth had become fang-like and he jumped with an enormous amount of energy. He was probably enraged that we lost Sasuke. Again.

I realized I was starting to feel angry too. I mean, how could I let my brother get taken away from me right out of my hands for the billionth time? What kind of sister am I? God, I'm so careless and irresponsible…

I felt a flash of white hot anger rise up in my chest and I clenched my teeth together. My chakra flowed through my body and pounded through my veins as I started to leap off each branch on all fours, flying a good fifty to a hundred feet.

_Hang on, Noah. I'm coming._

We finally broke through the tree line and arrived at a nice, green meadow. I 'pounced' to the ground at the exact same time Naruto did. We both glared at Kimimaro with eyes full of hate. I spotted the two coffins next to him, which were about thirty yards away from us.

"Let's see, how shall I kill you two?" Kimimaro asked monotonously.

"Tell me, why is Orochimaru after Sasuke?" Naruto snarled.

My eyes narrowed as Boneman lay a hand on the top of both coffins.

"Orochimaru has mastered the Immortality Justu since he wants to live forever. However, he needs a new body every once and a while because it doesn't last like his soul. So, he needs a new vessel to transfer his soul into."

"Are you saying that Orochimaru is planning on using Sasuke's body?!"

"That's right, and I'll make sure that it is delivered to him."

"Than why does he need Noah, then?" I growled.

"From what I know, he's just using that kid as bait for a certain someone that he also wants to join him," Kimimaru replied. "Once that person is lured to him, the child will be thrown in a cell at his hideout, just like the rest of the captured fools from the past."

I glared at him and clenched my fists.

"No," I growled. "I'm not gonna let you take Noah to Orochimaru, not in a million years."

Kimimaro stared at me, then smirked.

"So you must be the one he wants besides this vessel here. Well then, I'll just make sure that you _will_ be delivered to him along with these two."

I cracked my knuckles and pulled out my drawing scroll.

_I'm gonna whip out something so big and powerful that you'll be taken out in one hit, _I thought, my eyes trained on Kimimaro's.

"No, I'll take care of this guy," Naruto growled, as if he had read my thoughts.

I turned and glared at him.

"No, I'm gonna beat the shit out of him," I growled back. "He deserves to die."

Naruto stared at me before smirking.

"You got that part right," he answered.

"Then let's make a plan."

**Alright! The fighting has started!...And I kinda lost my mind in the dome. ' I promise it won't happen again…Continue reading!**


	21. The Fighting Starts

**Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto or any of the brand names I mention in this story. I also don't own any of the music lyrics that appear.**

Chapter 21

The Fighting Starts

Angel barked with rage as she charged at Sakon, teeth bared. Kiba had given her a food pill, so she would have more energy to fight with. However, she decided to grow a little bigger and use a bit more chakra. So she was a little bigger than the average gray wolf, probably around four and a half feet at the shoulders. Kiba and Akamaru had just performed Fang Over Fang, and failed miserably.

While they crouched together up against a giant stalagmite, Angel pounced on Sakon and his brother Ukon. The two brothers, however, had leveled up to Curse Mark Level 2. Their hair had become long and white with a crimson horn sticking out of their forehead. Their eyes were beady and their teeth like demon's fangs.

Ukon punched her in the face while Sakon kicked her in the ribs. Angel fell to the ground and panted.

_Angel, you alright?_

She raised her head and saw that Kiba and Akamaru were staring at her. She got up and shook herself.

_Yeah, I'm fine. Just a little shaken up, that's all._

Kiba nodded and started speaking to Akamaru. Angel kept her eyes locked on Sakon and Ukon, making sure that they wouldn't move. Suddenly, Akamaru growled and bit Kiba's hand. Taking this as a moment to attack, Sakon and Ukon ran towards them.

They dodged Akamaru and brought a fist up in Kiba's gut. Akamaru barked to Angel.

_Get a hold of them from the back!_

She nodded, charged, and closed her jaws around one of their arms. Kiba grabbed the other and Akamaru leaped into the air. He squirted pee at Two Heads, forcing them to back away. The duo then climbed up a stalagmite and transformed into an enormous, two-headed, white, wolf.

Angel got the picture and grew again to about half the size of the beast. The wolf jumped into the air and performed Wolf Fang Over Fang. Sakon and Ukon dodged it and Angel pounded the ground with a clawed paw. Multiple blocks of rock jutted from of the ground of where Two Heads was standing and forced them into the air. Now, the giant wolf performed Fang Over Fang and hit Sakon and Ukon right in the middle of their body.

Kiba and Akamaru's form skidded to a stop and two halves of Sakon's and Ukon's body fell to the earth. Angel gave a toothy, wolf-like grin, but it quickly faded as she watched in horror as the two bodies regenerated an arm and leg.

The two-headed dog did Wolf Fang Over Fang and Sakon and Ukon jumped behind two boulders. They then summoned two, giant, sinister-looking walls (a.k.a. Rashomon). The spiraling form crashed head on into one of them, dented it, stopped spinning, and fell to the ground. Just before Kiba and Akamaru transformed back into their regular selves, the wolf pissed into Sakon's eyes. Ukon socked Akamaru right in the jaw and the small puppy crashed to the ground.

"He did it again!" Sakon screamed. "It's different this time, like some sort of acid! My eyes feel like they're on fire!"

Kiba glanced at Akamaru and then scanned the area.

"Looking for someone?" came Ukon's voice.

He whipped around and realized that the bastard was attached to the side of his back.

"Go wash your eyes in that river, Sakon," Ukon ordered. "I'll take care of the rest."

Sakon ran off, his hands over his eyes. Angel stepped forward to follow him and howled.

_You coward! Come back here and fight!_

Kiba tried to punch Ukon in the face, but the monster grabbed his wrist with his hand and pulled it behind Kiba's head. Angel turned around and faced the scary sight. She looked from Kiba to where Sakon had run off, trying to decide what to do.

"Don't worry about me, Angel," Kiba groaned. "Go after that other guy."

She whimpered, spun on her heel, and bounded after Sakon. Before she could turn the corner, an explosion erupted and a net flew over her head. Kunai were attached to the ends, so they stuck deep into the earth when the net landed on top of her.

Angel tossed her head angrily and let out a vicious snarl. She then tried to gnaw at the material to get free, but wasn't successful.

_It seems to be more than rope, _she analyzed. _Like some sort of steel wire. Really strong steel, but also flexible. Oh, they're good._

She clawed at it with her paw, but that didn't work either.

_Maybe if I try a fire style jutsu, then tear at it, it'll break and I'll be free._

Angel gathered her chakra in her stomach and burped out flames that licked the wire and it turned red-hot. Her dagger-like claws ripped at the stuff and she hoped that they would slice through it like a hot knife through butter. But the wire didn't snap, it just got stretched out slightly.

Angry, Angel performed Claw Dig Jutsu and started tunneling her way into the ground. She reached light after a couple minutes and burst from the surface. Glancing around, the giant wolf saw that Kiba, Akamaru, and Ukon had disappeared. An almost unnoticeable trail of blood stained the dirt that led around a corner and behind a boulder.

Curious, Angel followed the trail and came face to face with Kiba. He had a worried look on his face and Akamaru lay unconscious in his lap. She sniffed both him and Akamaru and whimpered.

"Shhh, be quiet," Kiba raised a finger to his lips. "Those guys might find us."

Angel glanced down and noticed that Kiba was bleeding from the side of his abdomen.

_You're hurt._

"Don't worry about it, I'm fi-" he stopped short.

He started sniffing the air frantically and his eyes narrowed.

"Do you smell that?" he asked suddenly.

Angel put her nose to the air and inhaled the scent. Her eyes then widened slightly.

_Why would they…?_

"I don't know," Kiba interrupted. "We have to get outta here though."

He struggled to get up, but fell back to the ground.

"Looks like we're stuck here," Kiba sighed.

Angel shrank back to the size of the average wolf, keeping her wolfish appearance. She then licked his hand and lay next to him. He smiled and rubbed her head.

_I guess the only thing to do is keep fighting until…_

"No there has to be another way," Kiba interrupted. "Wait, listen."

They both froze and perked their ears up. The faint of _scratch-scratch_ of feet against earth could be heard, getting louder and louder with every passing moment.

"We'll have to travel by water," Kiba told Angel. "Come on, it's the only way we'll be able to escape. Okay?"

Angel nodded and silently dipped into the water. She then watched Kiba strip off his jacket, wad into the river, and they both disappeared under. A couple of minutes later, Sakon appeared where they had just sat and looked around.

Kiba leaned up against a giant gray boulder and peered behind it. The slow moving river was the only thing that filled the bottom of the gorge besides the occasionally logs and branches that dotted the surface. The two cliff faces consisted of pink granite, basalt, and sandstone. Angel rose up out of the aqua water, beads dripping from her gray fur. She eyed Kiba's eyes well up with tears as he gazed at the still non-moving Akamaru.

"Let's take a break," he told her.

She nodded and followed him out of the river. Angel then shook herself, sending sheets of water flying and Kiba kneeled down on the ground with Akamaru in his lap. He then grabbed two round stones and gathered a half a dozen handfuls of herbs that were growing. Placing the stuff on top of one of the rocks, he mashed it up with the other rock until it became soft and flaky like ash.

Kiba pinched the moist green powder between his fingers and spread it on Akamaru's wounds. He also put it on his own knife wound in his stomach, almost hearing the sizzle as it burned like hell. Angel put her nose into the substance and her black nose got covered in it. Kiba smiled and helped putting some of the medicine over her cuts and bruises.

Suddenly, Kiba froze and sniffed. Angel looked at him strangely, then perked up her ears.

"Come on," Kiba gripped Akamaru's tiny body and ran back towards the river.

Angel bounded after him, splashed in, and sank down so low that only her head was visible. Kiba placed a leafy branch on top of her head and had Akamaru rest on top of his own. Sinking down so he was neck deep in the water, he held another branch over him as they slowly drifted away.

A bone started to rise from the skin of Kimimaro's shoulder. I shuddered as I watched Boneman pull the milky white bone free from his left arm, leaving it dangling loosely. Five Naruto clones charged and were each reduced to a cloud when Kimimaro struck them with his 'sword.' Angry, six more yelled and threw some shuriken while running. Boneman destroyed them easily and the weapons fell to the ground, split down the middle and useless.

"It is useless to try to penetrate this sword," Kimimaro sneered. "This bone of mine is made of a material stronger than steel."

"So?!" Naruto shot back. "We'll defeat you no matter what!"

As the rest of the clones charged, I took out my drawing scroll and painted a pack of wolves and had them join in with the attack. They were all destroyed, including the clones. I dished out a second round and was about to release a third, when I noticed that Sasuke's coffin was gushing out streams of plum-colored steam. I stared at it and watched the steam rise faster and get thicker. Suddenly, something in my brain clicked.

"Oh, hell no!" I cried.

I sprinted as fast as I could towards the two containers, realizing the danger that Noah was in. If Sasuke's exploded, then Noah's would get caught in the blast and die. Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Kimimaro fight through my wolves, trying to get at me. I jumped and my fingertips brushed up against the wooden surface.

It was like watching a movie with the matrix effects, everything on slow-mo and there wasn't a single sound except for the beating of my heart. The seals on the top of Sasuke's coffin shredded themselves to pieces while I was just grasping the rope with my hands. There was an explosion of dark purple steam and gas as I was yanking the rope and pulling the container away.

Suddenly, everything returned to normal speed and it was as if someone turned off the mute button on a remote. The sickening sound of wood splintering rang in my ears and I crashed on my side into the soft grass. Groaning, I rubbed my head and looked up. The bottom half of Noah's coffin had completely burst into a thousand wooden pieces that now littered the meadow. I spotted Noah's two skinny legs sticking out of the damaged barrel; burned, bruised, and all scratched up.

I shook myself from the impact and slowly stood. Once I regained my bearings, I ran over to the barrel, which was lying about five feet away from me. Kneeling, I gently pulled Noah out of the wooden prison and held him in my arms. His eyes were closed and his lips slightly parted. I took his pulse and put my head to his chest.

"Good," I muttered. "He's still breathing."

I studied him and decided that the Sound Four must've put a sleeping jutsu on him or something. Or maybe they just knocked him out and he hasn't woken up. Either way, he'll have to be taken to the hospital, just in case.

"Hey, Sasuke!" Naruto called out, laughing a bit. "What are you doing with these guys?"

I turned my attention to the popular-so-called-emo. He had his back to us and laughed somewhat maniacally.

"Come one," Naruto said. "Let's go back to the village. Everyone's waiting."

Sas_gay_ still didn't answer and cackled again.

"He's delirious from the amount of power he has just received," I explained to him. "I don't think he knows what's going on."

"But…" Naruto looked from me to his comrade.

Sasuke took off into the trees and disappeared from our sight. We stared at where he had just stood, and then switched our gaze to Kimimaro, who had chosen this moment to charge with his bone sword to attack.

"Look out!" I cried.

We braced for a red-hot burning of pain, but it never came.

"Huh?" Naruto looked up.

Rock Lee was standing in front of us, blocking the bone with his hand.

"Lee?!" I stared at him. "What the hell are you doing here?!"

"Saving your lives," he replied in that gay voice of his.

"I thought you couldn't fight anymore!"

"I had an operation and it was a success. Now, get going. You have to bring Sasuke back to the village."

Naruto nodded and turned to me. I looked from Noah to the forest where we had come from.

"I'm gonna go back for Angel," I said, still staring at the trees. "I'm pretty sure there isn't anyone that's going to attack me, so I'll be fine. I'll tell the rest what has happened if I run into them. Okay?"

"Be careful," Naruto said in that serious tone of his that he gets occasionally.

I nodded, gave Noah a piggyback ride while supporting his butt with my hands behind my back, and retraced my steps back to where Angel, Kiba, and Akamaru had fallen.

I was presented with a gorge and peered curiously over the edge. At the very bottom were giant stalagmites and a small blue river that eventually swallowed up the whole ground and ran on for miles. If I looked closely from the height I was standing, I could spot the remnants of a major fight that had occurred a little while ago.

"Damn," I muttered. "If I had Angel with me, then I could smell where Sakon and Kiba were. If I don't have good senses to use, how will I track them down?"

I backed away from the edge and pondered this enigma. The solution came to me about five minutes later and I mentally slapped myself for not thinking of it before. Setting Noah down, I summoned my great gray wolf, Mizuki. I let her sniff my shoulder so they could pick up Angel's scent.

"Find her," I told the wolf, hoisting Noah up on my back again. "And fast. We don't have that much time."

_Okay._

She put her black nose to the ground and sniffed once, twice, three times before leaping into the branches.

I peered through the leaves of the tree from the branch I was standing on and observed Sakon, Ukon, and Kiba face each other in the clearing. I could tell that Kiba didn't have the strength to fight, Akamaru was still unconscious, and Angel looked like she could return to her normal form at any moment. I attached an explosive tag to a kunai knife and threw it right in the middle of the clearing. Once it exploded I chucked some makibishi to the ground, drew and released two dragons, and signaled for Mizuki to attack Ukon and the dragons attacked Sakon from the air.

Mizuki dug into the ground and tunneled towards Ukon's feet while the two dark dragons burst from the tree line. As the smoke cleared, Sakon was shown fending my little dragons off and Ukon punching Mizuki repeatedly because the wolf had her jaws clamped around his right foot.

"Where the hell are these things coming from?" Sakon growled as he destroyed a panther I had recently drawn.

"I don't know, but," Ukon dodged a boulder that Mizuki had hurled at him. "They must belong to a person who's skilled at long range attacks. That means they're not too far from here."

I gripped Noah's tiny ankles, who was still piggybacking on my back. I set him down and created three clones of myself and had them spread out around the area so that we were all in a square surrounding Sakon and Ukon. We performed the Earth Wall Jutsu at the same time and four walls surrounded the two twins, trapping them. We then performed Earth Spheres and boulders fell from the top, hopefully burying the twins. I smirked, but something grabbed me from behind and held a kunai to my neck. My eyes narrowed and I glanced up at my attacker.

"So, you're the one who's sending those beasts after me and my brother," Sakon sneered.

I shrugged and his claw-like hand gripped my side. Suddenly, he groaned and I turned my head slightly to see what the fuss was about. Mizuki's teeth had made their way into Sakon's side, forcing a streak of blood to trickle. Since he had loosened his grip, I ripped away from his arms, shoved Noah onto my back, jumped off the branch, and landed right in the middle of the clearing.

"Madeline, what are you doing here?" Kiba asked.

I placed my brother next to him and leaned him up against the tree. Kiba, who was also sitting and leaning up against the tree, looked from him to me.

"What does it look like I'm doing?" I turned to meet his eyes. "Guard him with your life…No matter what."

I then turned my back on him and faced Ukon. Unlike his brother, he was in his regular form and wearing Kiba's jacket. Sakon landed next to his twin, clutching the wound made by Mizuki.

"I can't fight right now," he said as he merged with Ukon. "Let me rest in this body."

Ukon just growled a response and charged at me. I put my hand to the ground and a wave of rock rolled towards my opponent. He dodged it by jumping, but got hit by an incoming boulder and crashed to the ground. Ukon lay there, immobile, as if he had just been unconscious. But I knew better. Just as I was pulling out a kunai, he disappeared in a cloud, proving my theory that it was a clone. I checked all of my sides, searching for the conjoined twin.

"Looking for someone?" a voice growled.

I turned just in time to get punched in the stomach. Before I could recover from getting the wind knocked out of me, the powerful sound ninja tripped me with his foot and kicked me away as I fell. He started to walk towards me and I struggled to get up.

Not having much time to think before I was mauled again, I made a worthless attempt to defend myself by performing Earth Wall Jutsu again. Ukon vanished from my sight and I hurriedly dug underground with Claw Dig Jutsu. When I was sure I was under his feet, I burst from the ground and threw a kunai with an explosive tag attached. While I was still in the air, Ukon elbowed me in the gut again and I fell to the unforgiving dirt. The tag detonated and the explosion blew me out of the smoke. The ground scraped my flesh as I slid across it and crashed into a tree trunk.

"Pathetic," Ukon sneered as he started towards me again. "You're just as weak and pitiful as your brother."

That was it. He pushed the envelope too far. I felt the chakra flowing in my body become intense and I used the tree trunk as support to stand. My breathing was heavy and my head and arms hung low. Suddenly, I felt a fist jam its way into my stomach for the third goddamn time. I gasped for my air as my chest tightened. Before Ukon could hit me again, I gathered chakra into my right fist, raised my head, and punched him as hard as I could in the face. He stumbled back about fifty feet and glared at me.

_Nothing can get through him, _I thought. _If I summon HIM, the rest of my chakra will be used up. And if that doesn't work, I'll probably die…There's no other choice, I'll have to summon him. It's my only remaining option._

I gave him the hairy eyeball and cracked my knuckles. Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Angel leap towards Ukon. Perfect. As Sakon punched her away, I cut my thumb with a kunai and traced the blood on a scroll to write the word 'Ma.' As I was doing this, the song _Voodoo _by Godsmack suddenly came into my head and I couldn't get it out.

_I'm not the one who's so far away_

_When I feel the snake bite enter my veins_

_Never did I wanna be here again_

_And I don't remember why I came_

_Candles raise my desire_

_Why I'm so far away_

_No more meaning to my life_

_No more reason to stay_

_Freezing, feeling,_

_Breathe in, breathe it in…_

_I'm coming back again…_

_I'm not the one who's so far away_

_When I feel the snake bite enter my veins_

_Never did I want to be here again,_

_And I don't remember why I came_

_Hazing clouds rain on my head_

_Empty thoughts fill my ears_

_Find my shape by the moonlight,_

_Why my thoughts aren't so clear_

_Demons dreaming,_

_Breathe in, breathe it in…_

_I'm coming back again…_

_I'm not the one who's so far away_

_When I feel the snake bite enter my veins_

_Never did I wanna be here again,_

_And I don't remember why I came_

_I'm not the one who's so far away_

_When if feel the snake bite enter my veins_

_Never did I wanna be here again,_

_And I don't remember why I came_

_I'm not the one who's so far away_

_When I feel the snake bite enter my veins_

_Never did I wanna be here again_

_And I don't remember why I came_

_I'm not the one who's so far away_

_When I feel the snake bite enter my veins_

_Never did I wanna be here again_

_And I don't remember why I came_

_Voodoo, voodoo, voodoo, voodoo_

_Voodoo, voodoo, voodoo, voodoo_

_So far away… Voodoo, voodoo_

_I'm not the one who's so far away… Voodoo, voodoo_

_I'm not the one who's so far away… Voodoo, voodoo_

_I'm not the one who's so far away…_

Every time I summon him, I get this song in my head. Maybe it's just a Genjutsu that he casts on me to help me concentrate. Whatever. It works. What I always wondered is if I was the only who heard it, or if everyone could hear it.

My English writing transformed into Japanese kanji and I then put my hand to the ground and smoke exploded into the air.

When it cleared, Ma, my voodoo doll was standing before me. He was about my height and had two black buttons for eyes. His fabric was a woven mixture of chocolates and tans with metal pins stuck in various places. A frown was stitched into where the mouth was supposed to be and a long metal chain was wrapped around his two arms, making them stretch out straight as if strapped to a wall, held by two, purple, faint but ominous, claw-like hands that were suspended above our heads.

"Well, I'm impressed," I smirked a little. "You made me result to my greatest defense."

"I wouldn't be so cocky," Ukon growled. "I'll break through that worthless doll and finish you off once and for all."

I snapped my fingers and my hands became in the same position they were in as the purple ones were. I then pretended to be holding a rope with both hands and pulled upward. The claws did exactly what I did and Ma lifted his head.

"Darkness Mimicry Jutsu," I muttered.

The two buttons of Ma's eyes stared at Ukon as if to burn a hole through him. It then started to change it's form until it was a doll version of him. The twin looked at it confusingly, but his eyes soon widened slightly and he flinched. I smirked. Good, the Genjutsu was working.

As I had hoped, Ukon still saw me, so he charged at me with a kunai knife at the ready. I moved my hands to the left, for that's where he was coming from, and the purple hands dragged Ma in front of me. Ukon yelled and stabbed the doll in the arm with his knife. He smiled, but a look of horror quickly replaced it. Blood soon appeared on the exact same spot on his arm where the knife had sliced Ma. Confused, he punched it in the face and clutched his face right has his fist touched the doll's. A third attack to the stomach got him the same result.

"What's going on?!" he cried out angrily. "Why is that every time I attack it, I get injured?!"

I smirked. This was the beauty of summoning Ma and using his Genjutsu.

"If you know anything about voodoo dolls, it's that whatever happens to them, happens to the person who is supposed to be the doll," I explained. "For example, if I were angry at a friend and bought a voodoo doll, I would imagine them as the doll and stab them wherever I pleased. It's a dark art that some say actually works by the person receiving negative energy. So, when Ma stared at you, he was trapping you in his Genjutsu and analyzing your entire body to copy it, which is why he transformed to look like you."

I made the left hand let go of the chain, having it dangle from the right. The left purple hand then grabbed the voodoo doll by the head and the right raised the chain high in the air.  
"Ma," Ukon muttered. "Doesn't that mean evil spirit, or demon?"

"Exactly. You see, since he is a demon and uses dark jutsus on his opponent, it takes a lot of chakra to summon and use him. I'm not really into dark jutsus anyway, that's more of Lilian's jutsus. In fact, she's the one who taught me it, and so I usually don't summon him. But because of the way you've treated my brother and friends, you're an exception. This is for kidnapping my brother!"

The right hand brought down its hand and the chain slashed across the Ma's back. Ukon held in a scream of pain and fell forward on his knees. I whipped the chain again and the twin reached for his back. He winced the third time and groaned the fourth. Blood started to flow from his back and seep through his clothing.

"My back…it feels as if it's on fire," Ukon whispered, struggling to stand.

"Good," I smirked, making the weapon lower. "Now your suffering matches the pain I feel inside."

I performed some hand signs and the metal pins slipped easily out of Ma's fabric. They rose into the air and arranged into a circle above Ma's body. My hands were held out in front of me, my fingers spread out. I closed the thumb of my right hand and a pin hurled into Ma's shoulder. Ukon let out a scream of pain and he fell to his knees, clutching his shoulder.

"Wait! I'm…I'm…"

"What?" I growled, pausing. "Spit it out."

"I'm sorry for kidnapping your brother and hurting your friends…And I speak for my brother, my teammates, Lord Orochimaru, and myself. If you spare me, I promise to let you go and tell our master that we couldn't find you and bring you back to his lair."

My eyes narrowed. This is just like in the movies. The victim begs the torturer to spare them and will promise them something in return. If the torturer agrees, they usually end up dieing or becoming a hostage or something. Well, I'm not falling for that.

"No," I replied. "I don't trust you. How do I know that you're not going to kill me once I free you?"

"I won't, I swear."

My eyes flicked from him to Kiba, to Noah, to Angel, and finally back at him.

"No," I repeated. "I don't give my mercy to someone who's insulted and hurt my friends. Someone like you doesn't deserve that from me, now do you?"

Ukon remained silent and I shook my head. I closed my other thumb and Ukon tried to conceal a moan as another pin pierced Ma's abdomen. I was about to close the pinky of my right hand, but something grabbed both of my wrists. I turned my head and glared straight into the face of Sakon. He had changed to his creepy, second curse form again, which meant he had like super strength or something. He must've escaped Ma's Genjutsu, but how?

"That's enough," he snarled. "You're done."

I struggled but he just kept a firm grip on both of my wrists.

"Get the fuck off me!!" I shrieked, trying to kick him.

He just lifted me into the air and got out of the way. I then tried climbing up his chest with just my feet, but since I wasn't facing his body, it just resulted in him switching his grip to my ankles and me hanging upside down. Sakon brought his face level with mine.

"Nice try," he sneered. "But not good enough."

I glared at him, and suddenly a plan formed in my head.

I looked Sakon square in the eye, gathered a loogie from my throat, and spat it in his face. He cried out and tried to wipe the gunk away while I reached into my thigh pouch and pulled out a kunai. I was about to drive it to Sakon's head, but he grabbed it out of my hand. Before I could do anything else, he held it to my neck, forcing me to surrender.

"You change the position of my fingers, and I'll kill your brother," I said when Sakon reached for my middle finger and thumb so he could force them to snap.

"You're bluffing," he growled.

"Am I?"

I made my remaining eight fingers curl and the pins slowly closed in on Ma. I made them stop when the points were just brushing the fabric. Tiny scratches appeared all over Ukon's body.

"Sakon, you idiot!" he cried. "Make her release the damn jutsu!"

Sakon nodded and held the kunai knife closer to my throat.

"Release it," he snarled. "Or I kill you."

"Yeah, but I kill him before you kill me," I replied, flexing my fingers, making the pins go further and closer to Ma.

"You wanna bet on that?"

I remained silent, feeling the angry bite of the kunai knife that was just digging into my neck. Finding this as his chance, Sakon snatched my thumb and middle finger of my right hand and forced them to snap, releasing my control over the hands. The two claws slowly faded away, as did the music, and Ma glanced at me before disappearing in a cloud of smoke. I sighed angrily and clenched my teeth.

"As long as you can't control those hands, you're powerless," Sakon said evilly.

He swung me in the air and chucked me to the ground as if I were a rag doll. Unbearable pain shot through my whole body as I struggled to roll over on my side. Sakon kicked me in the left arm and I immediately clutched it, groaning.

"Just as I thought," he smirked down at me. "You're nothing but a weak, little girl. If it weren't for that demon inside of you, I'd kill you. Oh well. I'll be able to do just that in a matter of time. Ukon, you can take care of the rest."

His brother nodded and started towards Kiba, who was staring at us. I tried getting up, but Sakon forced me down with his foot before disappearing. Ukon smirked, drew a kunai knife, and drove it towards Kiba. I flinched when it contacted with something and slowly raised my head.

In front of Kiba was Kankurou's puppet, Krow, the same one that I had found while we were tracking Gaara. Ukon's knife had lodged itself in the puppet's black cloth, saving Kiba's ass. A figure stepped out of the trees from behind the two and a little smile graced my features. Kankurou smirked at his opponent.

"Who are you?" Ukon asked.

"Allies of the Leaf Village," Kankurou replied. "And shinobi from the Sand."

He looked at me and signaled for me to move out of the way. I nodded and tried to slowly and painfully drag myself to the roots of a nearby tree, but I was too weak to move more than a foot. I reached for a kunai, wincing as I pulled it out. I then dug it into the dirt and dragged my body across the ground.

"Madeline…" I heard Kankurou start.

"I would be more worried about losing my neck instead of her if I were you," Ukon snarled.

"I'm fine," I spat, pausing. "Just kick his ass."

I finally reached my destination and barely managed to rest my head against the trunk. I was so weak, that I just wanted to close my eyes and sleep forever, but I forced myself to watch the fight and stay on guard just in case something came my way.

Kankurou had made Krow leap forward and a needle had ejected from its wrist. Ukon had then jumped back until he was about five feet from me, at the other side of the clearing.

"Hey, weren't you in a group of three when you got here?" Kiba asked.

"Yeah, but the other two went on ahead," Kankurou replied. "Since you guys couldn't handle this on your own."

_That's right, _I thought. _I forgot. Temari saves Shikamaru and Gaara saves Lee._

Angel suddenly sniffed and barked.

"Look out!" I shouted. "The other guy is behind you!"

Kankurou turned around and Sakon shoved his black, claw-like hand into his face.

"What's with this guy?" the puppeteer asked, struggling to lift the hand away from him.

Sakon pushed with his arm, making the claw cover Kankurou's face again.

"Be careful!" Kiba cried. "He's going to try to merge with your body!"

"It's too late!" Sakon shouted.

I noticed that the twin's thumb was lodged into Kankurou's cheek, so I raised my head ever so slightly and squinted. Around the knuckle of the black thumb, the skin was…cracking. Kankurou suddenly smirked and put his two hands on Sakon's arm. Confused and irritated, Sakon pushed and pushed his arm. Kankurou's face started to crumble and sand trickled to the ground. Soon, the whole body had deteriorated and a puppet was in its place. It wore a ragged, black cloth like Krow and had three yellow eyes. Its face was long like a horse's and had six arms.

"I guess your jutsu doesn't work on puppets," a voice came from inside the wrapped case that Kankurou always carried around.

The puppeteer burst from the wrapped cloth, flipped in the air, and landed, chakra strings coming from his fingertips.

"Just to let you know," he said. "We sand ninja aren't as easy-going as those of our allies' from the Leaf Village. But to get to my Black Ant so carelessly, is a mistake."

The Black Ant lifted its six arms and shiny blades were ejected from the inside. Kankurou then made the puppet give Sakon a bear hug and blood spurted into the air. I smiled weakly, happy. At least the blood showed up in here, unlike the crappy English version.

The Black Ant let go and Sakon fell to the ground, purple fumes escaping his cuts. The puppet then charged at Ukon, making an annoying clicking noise as it flew. The twin's eyes narrowed and he dodged the Black Ant. He turned into the second curse level and he slid in front of his brother, who had returned to his normal form.

Suddenly, Sakon's head appeared behind Ukon's and his hands and feet disappeared into his brother's body.

"That hurt," he groaned. "Let me rest in this body, brother."

"You're so pathetic, Sakon," Ukon growled, changing back to his normal form too. "You let that puppet catch you off guard. Well, you can be sure that it won't work on me! I may not have much chakra left, but it'll be more than enough to defeat these scrawny weaklings!"

"It's like they're just mocking us," Kankurou growled.

"Don't underestimate them!" Kiba warned. "Just give up now and we can regroup later!"

"Shut up, Kiba!" I shouted angrily. "We don't have time to regroup! Plus, everyone else has their hands full. Who the hell is going to help us out?"

He stared at me and Kankurou smirked.

"She's right," he agreed, switching his chakra strings to Krow. "Plus, I can't back down when these guys show me no respect!"

Kankurou made Krow speed towards Ukon, who got out of the way when the puppet came near. Krow's mouth opened up and three kunai knives shot out, which the twin dodged. An arm of Krow's detached, blasted in the air, and a handful of needles ejected from the palm of the hand. Ukon dodged these too and did a back handspring.

I realized this was my last chance to get a revenge hit, because I knew what was going to happen next.

_Damn it, Houkou!_ I thought. _Do you want to die or what? Give me the power so we can get one last revenge shot at these guys! They're the ones who tried to kill you!_

I suddenly felt energy spiral out of my stomach and into every part in my body. It was so powerful that I could see my body emit a very faint, white flame. I stood up weakly and noticed the Black Ant opening up its giant torso behind Ukon. Smirking, I gathered chakra into my right fist and nailed Ukon right in the face when he landed near me. He groaned and flew into the Black Ant's stomach, which closed and locked once the enemy was inside. Krow's head, four arms, and two legs detached from the body, rose into the air, and ejected menacing needles from the ends.

"Let's have a puppet show!" Kankurou cried, spreading out his chakra strings.

"Let me outta here!" Ukon shouted from inside. "Let me out or I'll kill you!"

"Secret Move of Darkness: Iron Maiden!"

The body parts shot forward and pierced the Black Ant's body, fitting snuggly. Ukon screamed, but he fell silent moments later. I shuddered slightly when blood flowed from the puppet's torso and averted my eyes. Still, I was glad to see it.

_Ha! _I thought happily. _Take THAT you bastards of English producing Naruto! You can't take away the blood and language now!_

I suddenly felt exhausted again and collapsed to the ground on my butt.

"That's it," Kankurou smirked. "Show's over."

I breathed a sigh of relief and glanced at Noah, who was still slumped up against the tree, right where I had left him. Angel trotted over next to him, licked his cheek, and rested her head in his lap. I smiled and gazed at the two for a couple of long moments until she finally looked at me, trotted over, licked my hand, and barked.

_I think we should head back to the village and get ourselves to the hospital._

I opened my mouth to answer, but something landed on the top of my hand. Without even looking down, I knew it was one of the spiders I had drawn. It jumped up on my shoulder and stared at me with its eight eyes. I peered at it closely and noticed that the bandage that was wrapped around Shikamaru's wrist was clenched in its tiny jaws. I took the piece of cloth from its mouth and smiled.

"What is it?" Kiba asked.

I switched my gaze to him.

"Shikamaru won his fight against Tayuya," my smile became a little wider.

_Hopefully she didn't die,_ I thought. _I know she probably did, but I still hope it's not true. She's too freaking awesome._

Kiba's eyebrows raised and Kankurou nodded.

"We should head on back, then," the sand ninja said. "There's nothing else we can do."

I looked over at Noah again and suddenly remembered Naruto.

"No," I shook my head. "Naruto is still pursuing Sasuke. We can still help bring him back."

"Well yeah, but what good will it do?" Kiba asked.

"Honestly, I don't think anything will change Sasuke's mind. But that doesn't mean we still can't help out Naruto."

Kiba and Kankurou exchanged glances.

"I guess, but are you going to fight or what?" Kankurou gave me a worried look. "You've already used up all of your chakra and can barely stand. Helping fight the 'great Uchiha' isn't going to make your situation any better. It's probably for the best that we just wait for him back at the village where we can get you guys some medical attention."

I tried making a shadow clone with what little chakra I had left, but it was useless to even try. I hoped the two didn't notice that I couldn't even perform a simple jutsu.

"I'm still going to help him," I feebly got up and pathetically handed Noah to Kankurou. "You guys can go back to the village if you want, just take care of my brother."

"Why are you going?" Kiba asked curiously.

I paused, pondering the question.

"Because…" I started. "I guess…Naruto was the only one who reminded me of Noah before he came here. He treated me like his sister, and he still kinda does. The least I could do is to help him out, like he always does for me."

"Okay, but let's see if you're in the shape to even go," Kankurou challenged, setting my brother down to the ground. "Why don't you charge at me with a kunai?"

I bit my lip slightly and pulled out a kunai. Holding the knife if front of me, I ran at the sand shinobi, but my thigh and calf muscles felt like they were strained, and that prevented me from going anything but fast. As I…erm…jogged, Kankurou just stood where he was and seemed to observe the situation I was in. When I finally reached him, I drove the dagger to his chest and he grabbed my wrist with ease. Kankurou then gently slipped the kunai out of my hand and looked into my eyes.

"You don't have enough energy or chakra," he said firmly. "I'm sorry but there's nothing we can do."

I kept my eyes to the ground, and pulled my arm away from Kankurou's hand.

"Okay," I sighed. "How about this: we go, watch the fight, and jump in to help Naruto when needed? That way, I won't get hurt on purpose."

Kankurou frowned and glanced at Kiba, who shrugged.

"Alright," Kankurou finally said. "We'll go, but no fighting unless absolutely necessary. Got it?"

"Okay, _mom_," I rolled my eyes.

"Hey, at least consider yourself lucky that we're letting you go. We could drag you back to the Leaf Village by force if we wanted to."

"Fine, let's just go," I sighed.

Angel put her nose to the dirt and sniffed for Naruto's scent. A few seconds later, she picked it up and took off.

"Need help with him?" Kiba asked as I was trying to lift Noah up on my back to give him a piggyback ride.

"I got him," I muttered. "Let's just go."

I adjusted my brother on my back and we all followed my wolf-like dog.

"Okay, no more than this," Kankurou whispered. "We'll try to keep as hidden as possible and will only come out if Naruto is in real danger."

Kiba and I nodded and we peered through the bushes.

All I could see was Sasuke standing on the water, looking around. Suddenly, two hands grabbed his ankles and pulled him under. Soon, he was swung around in the air and I could see how many Naruto clones that had grabbed each other's ankles to create such a…erm…tornado. Sasuke crashed into a cliff face and dust exploded into the air. Before it cleared, however, red-hot flame burst from the rock and licked all of the clones, destroying them in a matter of seconds.

When the debris had cleared, it revealed Sasuke grabbing Naruto, throwing him into the air, grabbing him again, and hurtling the ground. To make a long description short, Sasuke was basically performing a Pile Driver on Naruto.

Naruto's head smashed to the rock ground and his body fell limp. Sasuke let go of him and fell on his hands and knees, coughing, while Naruto's body slid down the tiny dirt mound and into the water.

My blood ran cold as I watched Naruto's motionless body float along the water. I got up on my hands and knees and glanced over Kiba to see that he was already standing, a shocked look of horror on his face.

"Wait," Kankurou yanked us back down to the dirt. "Don't jump to conclusions. Look."

We followed his pointed finger and saw that fiery orange chakra was emitting from Naruto, making his body rise from the surface. Sasuke curiously walked over across the water and stood in front of the blonde ninja. Naruto suddenly rose up and socked Sasuke in the face, making him fly through the air and skid across the water's surface.

**This was when I was obsessed with the band Godsmack, so I had to put the song in…Um…This is probably my favorite chapter so far, although it took forever to write…Anyway, thank you for all of you who have sent me messages and reviews! I really appreciate it! Oh, and just to let you all know, I had a lot going on when I was writing this, so the next chapter is at the end of the fight...Sorry. ' I might write the rest if there is enough people who want me to...**


	22. A Failure and A Rain of Tears

**Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto or any of the brand names I mention in this story. I also don't own any of the music lyrics that appear.**

Chapter 22

Failure and

A Rain of Tears

The bright ball of colorful light eventually faded and Naruto was lying on a small dirt mound beneath the Second Hokage statue's feet. Gazing down on him was Sasuke, an emotionless look on his face. Rain started to pelt the earth's surface and Sasuke fell on his knees, clutching his shoulder. After staring straight into Naruto's face, the Uchiha got up and wandered off.

"He left," Kiba whispered.

I sighed quietly and shivered in the rain.

"Well, it's over," Kankurou said. "We should probably head back now."

There was a moment's of heavy silence.

"Okay," I sighed again. "You guys go on ahead. I'll catch up later and meet you back at the village. 'Kay?"

"Be careful on the way back," Kankurou frowned.

"I'll be fine. Just go."

They two boys both nodded and took off. Through my dripping bangs, I spotted Kakashi and Pakkun walk over to Naruto's body. My sensei picked up the kid that so much resembled Noah and carried him over to a hill that overlooked the waterfall, river, and statues. Since they were only like a couple of yards away, I shoved Noah onto my back and emerged from the bushes.

"Kakashi-sensei!" I called out, slowly walking towards him.

They both turned and Kakashi's right eye widened.

"Madeline, what are you doing here?" he asked. "I thought you headed back to the village after you rescued Noah."

"Well, it's kinda of a long story."

"Never mind, you can tell me later…so you saw the fight, huh?"

"Basically, yeah."

We all stood there, gazing at the raging river through the pouring rain. I just then realized that I was only dressed in a tank top, fishnet shirt, and shorts and was getting chilled to the bone. Suddenly, the raining ceased and sunlight broke through the cloudy sky.

"I can't pick up Sasuke's scent because of all that rain," Pakkun remarked.

"It's fine," Kakashi replied. "What really matters is keeping these four alive."

"Yeah."

"Let's go."

Kakashi turned to me and we all took off.

We hadn't even been traveling thirty minutes when Naruto regained consciousness and asked where Sasuke was. Before Kakashi could answer, three medical ninja joined us and explained our teammates' situation.

"Shikamaru Nara had very minor injuries," one of them said. "Kiba Inuzuka's were more serious, but not life threatening. However, Neji Hyuuga and Chouji Akimichi are in critical condition."

My breathing got caught in my throat and I squeezed Noah's tiny ankles. We only traveled for another five minutes when I became so exhausted that my vision became blurry. Not that I was already tired, but this wave of sleepiness just washed over me. My head started to tilt forward and I barely jumped from the next tree branch. I blinked and shook my head, trying to push it away. Nonetheless, exhaustion is a powerful foe and I soon collapsed on a tree branch and blacked out.

You know that state where you're awake, but then asleep at the same time? Kind like half awake, half asleep? That's what I was in.

I heard voices, talking in low, hushed tones. I didn't want to wake up, but I could hear them so clearly.

_Dammit, go away, _I thought angrily.

But then I realized I couldn't go back to sleep nor open my eyes, which felt as heavy as lead. So I just listened to the conversation.

I was training when Hinata and Ten-Ten came running towards me.

"What's up?" I asked, breathing heavily.

"How long have you been out here?" Hinata asked.

"Since the team for retrieving Sasuke left," I replied. "I've only gone home to eat, sleep, use the bathroom, and get some new training clothes."

The two kunoichi looked me up and down and then exchanged looks. I was wearing a white, sleeveless shirt that buttoned up the front and went down to right above my belly button (like Ten-Ten's shirt). A white skirt that divided in two in the front was tied around my upper torso, starting right at the top of my ribs and ending at my shuriken holster. I was also wearing a fishnet T-shirt underneath these two pieces of clothing, and one could see it covering my belly button. I had kept my black gloves, but was now wearing a fishnet piece on my right arm, traveling from my wrist to my elbow. On my left arm, white bandages were tied from my shoulder to my elbow. On my right leg, a fishnet piece went from my thigh to my knee while bandages on my left went from my ankle to my knee. I was also wearing black shorts with my black Leaf Village headband tied around my waist.

"That was almost two days ago," Hinata protested.

"Never mind that," Ten-Ten interrupted. "We came looking for you 'cause we want you to know that Maddie and Neji and the others are back! They've been rushed to the hospital!"

"Really?" I asked.

"Yeah, come on!"

I left my kunai knives stuck in the bark of the trees and ground and we took off.

"…So she's gonna be okay?" Ten-Ten continued.

"Yeah, that's what Tsunade said," I replied.

"And Angel?"

"Her too."

"That's good."

"Yeah."

Silence.

"So what were her injuries?" Ten-Ten finally asked.

"From what I know, she was just bruised up and battered," I replied. "They told me that her hands were burned from using some jutsu and that her shoulder blade was slightly fractured. She also bruised two ribs, cracked another rib, and used up all of her chakra."  
"God, she really went all the way, didn't she?"

"Yeah."

More silence. I could sense how tense we were.

"Are we the only ones who have visited her?" I suddenly asked.

"No," Ten-Ten responded. "Shikamaru was here for the first hour once she got out of the ER and Temari and Kankurou keep checking in periodically. Kakashi and Gai-sensei were here once, but I haven't seen them since then."

"Oh, what about her-"

"Shhh, I don't think we should talk about that here. C'mon, let's let her sleep."

"Ok," I nodded, getting up. "Maybe Neji's out of the ER."

We both got up and left the room.

There was a scraping of a chair and sandals against tile. Once I heard the door slide closed, I managed to open my eyes. I was so weak, that I couldn't sit up, so I just observed my surroundings from where I lay.

I was lying in a white hospital bed that was in a recovery room or something. A small wooden table was to my right that supported a vase with an orange hibiscus and an iHome with my iPod already plugged in it. The digital numbers read 4:00 pm. A bulletin board was above my head that had a billion 'Get Well!' cards tacked to it. A wide window with its heavy, white curtains was slightly open, leaving a ray of warm sunlight strike the bed where my feet were supposed to be. To my left was another wooden table that had my weapon pouch, shuriken holster, and sketchbook and all of my paints. Angel, back in her original form, was lying on a giant cushion, asleep, curled into a tight ball.

I weakly sat up, not really thinking anything, just doing absolutely nothing. Bored, I turned on my iPod and _Shut Me Up_ by Mindless Self Indulgence blasted through the speakers. As the music was playing, I decided to doodle in my sketchbook. Since I couldn't think of anything to draw, I just drew the room from my perspective. Just as I was shading in the shadows and tiny details, there was a knock at the door. I looked up from my sketch and Angel lifted her head. We both exchanged looks and I turned down the volume.

"Who is it?" I called out.

"Your nurse," came a female voice.

"Come in," I frowned and went back to sketching.

The door slid open and the same nurse I had last time strode in. Out of the corner of my eye, I noticed she was carrying a small kit and a bottle of what looked like water.

"How are you feeling?" she smiled.

"Okay," I shrugged, not looking up. "My shoulder and ribs hurt pretty badly and I feel really weak, but nothing else really."

She nodded and opened up the small box. The nurse slipped on a pair of those hospital rubber gloves, poured alcohol or something on a cotton ball, took off the cloth that was wrapped around my left shoulder, and rubbed the damp thing all over my bare skin. She then took out a needle and pushed it into my left shoulder. I winced slightly as she pulled it back out and slapped a Band-Aid over the tiny hole.

"Hm…I don't think you'll need this anymore," the nurse remarked.

I cocked a questioning eyebrow and she pointed to a tube that was attached to my right forearm. She removed it, wrapped my forearm in white bandaging cloth, and took down the water bag.

"Dinner will be here in about an hour or two," she said on her way out.

I glanced at the time and it read 5:30 pm. So I'll have nothing to do for about two hours unless someone comes and visits me. I turned up the volume of my music, grabbed my watercolor sketchbook, paint palette, a cup of water that was on one of the tables, and slid out of the sheets. I then slowly walked over to the window, opened it up, and sat on the windowsill, my feet dangling in the air. A cool, early evening breeze sent chills down my spine as I flipped to a clean page and drew a faint outline of the buildings and trees that were outside. After that, I opened up the lid of my paint palette and started to paint the evening's beautiful sunset.

About thirty minutes later, there was another knock at the door.

"Who is it?" I asked, not looking up from my painting.

"Shikamaru," the voice replied.

My brush paused in midair, and I looked over my shoulder from the door to Angel. She wrinkled her nose and wagged her little fluffy tail excitedly.

"Come in," I turned back to the landscape.

I heard the door slide open and him walk in. Angel barked.

_Hooray! Shikamaru's here!_

"Hey, Angel," he said.

He walked over to where she was laying and petted her head.

"Madeline, what the hell are you doing?!" he suddenly cried out.

I turned around to look at his frantic face and shrugged.

"You're smart," I replied. "Figure it out. What does it look like I'm doing?"

"I don't give a damn! You should be resting!"

"Well, sorry, but I got bored."

He didn't reply and suddenly the music stopped. I turned around to see that Shikamaru had turned off the iHome.

"Will you please just get back to sleep?" Shikamaru sighed.

"Fine, wait until I finish this."

I turned my attention back to what I was working on.

"Damn sunset," I muttered under my breath. "Changing so freakin' fast I can't keep up with it."

I rinsed the brush in the water, dipped it in the peach color, and blended it in with the other oranges and yellows. There was a long pause, as if Shikamaru were deciding what to do. Finally, he walked over and took a seat next to me on the windowsill.

"Woah, that's good," I noticed he was peering over my shoulder.

"Thanks," I smiled slightly. "It's just hard because the sky changes constantly, so I have to either hold the image in my head, or paint it quickly. I'll have to paint the buildings and trees tomorrow and the next couple of days."

"Oh. How long have you been painting?"

"My mom told me that I've been drawing physical objects since I was eighteen months old. I was enrolled in art school at six, and I completed my first painting about a half of year later. I don't even know how many pieces I've done, there's too many to count."

Shikamaru nodded and we gazed at the landscape for a few more moments. The navy blue was setting in, and everything was darkening. I sighed and closed my palette lid. I'll have to finish it later.

"I'm done for now," I said, cleaning all of my materials up.

I felt Shikamaru's eyes watching me as I slipped back into the room and place everything back on the table. I then crawled into bed and fell asleep without another word.

Neji got out of the ER about ten minutes after Ten-Ten and I left Madeline's recovery room. His room looked almost exactly like Madeline's: white tiled floor with mint colored walls and a small bed right in the middle of it. Two wooden tables were on either side of the bed with two wooden stools and a giant window was on the right hand side of the bed.

Neji appeared to be sleeping when Ten-Ten and I entered. We sat on the wooden stools in silence for a long time. I was trapped in my own thoughts to not even notice Ten-Ten leaving thirty minutes after we came in. When I finally realized that she had left, I sighed and glanced at Neji.

_It's your fault that Madeline and Neji are injured like this_, I thought. _If you had gone with them on the mission, then maybe you could have used your jutsus to help prevent this. But you were too busy sleeping to even notice Neji leaving the house with the others. That's pathetic. You should be up training every morning so you could prove that you're able to go on missions like that…But I'm too lazy to do that…_

I got up, walked to the open window, and gazed out at the village.

_But then again, Madeline begged Shikamaru to bring her along. They probably could've managed without her. I'll show them that I'm just as good…_

I took one more glance at Neji before jumping out of the window and heading back towards the training grounds.

The iHome read 11:00 am when I woke up, but it felt like 4:00 to me.

I rolled on my side and tried to fall back asleep. I think I might have dozed, but I'm pretty sure it didn't work. I sleepily sat up and rubbed my eyes. Sunlight struck me right in the face and a cool breeze from the open window made the curtains ripple. There were Tylenol pills and a cup of water at the edge of the table along with gummy bear and vitamin C vitamins. I ate them and sat there, nothing to do. It occurred to me that I was going to be in this goddamn hospital bed for at least a week. My injuries could easily prove that.

My hands were bandaged up to the tips of my fingers, my left shoulder hurt like hell if I moved or touched it, and my ribs hurt when I tried to sit or bend over. Not to mention how tired I always was.

Nothing really happened during the day. There was the nurse that gave me a painkiller from a shot, the usual amount of visitors, and just sitting there alone, looking out the window and thinking.

As I was fiddling with the bed sheet and staring at Angel, there was a knock at the door.

"Come in," I said.

Shikamaru, Lilian, and Ten-Ten walked in for the billionth time.

"Hey, guys," I smiled.

"How are you feeling?" Ten-Ten asked.

"Eh, can't complain…Well, actually I could complain, but I won't."

I watched Lilian place a new flower in the vase on my table.

"How long are you going to be here?" she sighed, looking at me. "There's nothing to do. I train, but there's so much on my mind that I can't concentrate, I have no earthly idea where Kakashi-sensei is, you and Noah are in the hospital, and…it's just no fun, okay?"

"Shit!" I exclaimed. "I totally forgot about him! Is he alright?"

They all exchanged glances.

"Yeah, he's just recovering like you," Ten-Ten smiled.

I nodded, believing her, but that smile seemed to…defy what she had said.

So once again, for like the trillionth time, awkward silence floated through the atmosphere.

"Wellllll…I'm heading off to the bathroom," I said, swinging my legs off the mattress.

I slowly made my way to the tiny restroom, carried out my business, and started to head back to the room. On the way, I met up with Tsunade. There were bags under eyes and her hair was a mess.

"Hey, Madeline," she smiled slightly. "I thought you were supposed to still be resting."

"Well, I had to pee," I smiled sheepishly. "When you gotta go, you gotta go."

"Hm, I see. Have you seen your brother yet?"

"No, unfortunately, but I was going to ask you if I could. Where's his room?"

"It's the second door down the hallway to your left on the right-hand side."

"Great, thanks."

I started to where Tsunade had indicated, but she grabbed the back of my shirt and stopped me.

"Wait, there's something you need to know," she said.

I stared at her, as if saying 'What?'

She sighed and looked directly into my eyes.

"Madeline, your brother, needs to have surgery done on him."

My eyes widened slightly.

"The…erm…jutsu that was cast on him when he was kidnapped did some serious damage to his legs. The blast that he took from the coffin just made it worse. It's so bad that his body can't make a full recovery on its own. So, we're going to have to use a forbidden healing jutsu on him to cancel out this jutsu that seems to have paralyzed his legs. If we use it, there's only a fifty percent chance that he'll live, but if we don't, Noah will never walk again."

Silence. Dead silence. The only sound came from increasing beating of my heart.

"I'm so sorry."

My whole body shook as I repeated in my mind what Tsunade had just said.

_If we use it, there's only a fifty percent chance that he'll live, but if we don't, Noah will never walk again…_

I felt a flash of anger build up in my chest and I gathered what little chakra I had in my right fist.

"Maddie!" the fifth Hokage cried. "You have to calm down!"

I ignored her and pounded the hallway wall with my fist. The ground vibrated and the wall cracked and slightly crumbled.

"Dammit! Where the hell is the staff?!"

I was about to hit the wall again, but Tsunade grabbed my arm. I wriggled out of her grasp and heard shouts and the sound of feet coming our way. I raced down the hall aimlessly, kicking or punching the wall if I happened to bump into it. Soon, there were hospital staff and Leaf ninja blocking my way. I slid to the left and ran down that way.

I knew once I said the word 'Noah,' that I should have washed my mouth with soap. I just knew once her brother would be mentioned, Madeline would be asking about him. I was glad that Ten-Ten was able to reassure her, but I could tell by her face that she didn't really buy it.

"Wellllll…I'm heading off to the bathroom," she said, leaving the room.

Once she left, we all sighed in relief.

"That was a close one," Shikamaru remarked.

"Too close," Ten-Ten agreed.

"But not close enough," I said. "I bet she's just using the bathroom excuse to find out what actually happened to her brother."

Right on cue, there was a slight rumble and Tsunade could be heard cursing. A few seconds later, through the open door, we saw Madeline whiz pass the door with hospital staff behind her. Ten-Ten and I exchanged glances and Shikamaru leapt out of his seat. His chair knocked to the floor and he raced out of the room.

"Told you," I said.

After running for about a minute, I suddenly remembered where Noah's room was, so I retraced my steps and skidded to a stop in front of the door. Posted on the glass window were the words No Visitors. Doctors and Nurses Only.

I reached out for the sliding handle and tried to open it, but it wouldn't.

"No!!" I screamed, banging my fists against the surface. "Dammit!!"

I tried kicking it, but it was no use.

"Madeline," came a soft voice.

I whipped around and glared at who was behind me.

Shikamaru.

"What do you want?!" I spat.

"Calm down," he took a step closer, his hands starting to outstretch towards me.

"No!! Get away from me!!" I backed up a bit, starting to pull out a kunai.

"Maddie," Shikamaru took another step, his hands getting closer.

"I said no!! Just take those damn ninja and go!!" I shook my head and stamped my foot angrily.

"Maddie…"

"LEAVE ME ALONE!!"

I drove the knife at him, but he just caught my wrist and threw the kunai to the ground. My anger suddenly dwindled and I looked at his calm face curiously. Before I could do anything else, Shikamaru pulled me into a gentle hug.

"I'm sorry," he said softly. "I tried, but there's nothing we can do."

I remained stiff in his arms, not daring to give in. I bit my lip and swallowed hard, my throat sore, trying to push the tears back into my eyes. My legs felt too weak to support my weight, and I was about to collapse when Shikamaru tightened his grip around me and helped me to keep standing. And then, suddenly, I lost it. Tears were flooding my vision and escaping my eyes, so I pressed my face into his chest, sobbing, while he stroked my back soothingly. Footsteps came close and suddenly stopped.

"Quick, someone get her back to her room!" some moron shouted, ruining the moment.

I felt Shikamaru nod and then nudge me.

"C'mon," he whispered.

He pulled me to my feet and led me back to my recovery room, while I just leaned against his shoulder, sniffing. When we got there, I half-sat, half-collapsed on the bed, still in Shikamaru's arms. I don't know how long we sat there, but it felt like an eternity to me before I started to silently weep.

"Listen," Shikamaru said. "I know what you're thinking, but it's not your fault…It's mine."

Tsunade's words flashed through my mind.

_The blast that he took from the coffin just made it worse._

"N-no…it's n-n-not," I stammered. "I-I'm his s-sister…I should've t-taken better care of h-him and r-rescued him earlier b-before h-he took that b-blast."

"But I was the leader of the mission to retrieve him. Two of my teammates got life-threatening injuries and the other three pretty serious while I escaped with no more than a scratch. I'm such a coward. I should've planned it out more and done more fighting. Because of that one of my comrades is now in such a critical condition that it's unthinkable…That's why I'm the one who should take the blame."

"…………Don't b-blame yourself just b-because it w-was a failure. W-without you as l-leader, we w-would've d-died in t-that rock dome. A-at least y-you were able t-to keep us alive and b-bring back Noah to m-me. That's all I c-could ever ask f-for."

"……I guess that's the only good side about the situation, if you look at it that way."

I pulled away from his arms and crawled under the sheets.

"Yeah, I guess it is…"

I collapsed in the stool by Neji's bedside and exhaled deeply. I had left for training after Madeline had had her emotional break-down and stayed there training 'till late afternoon. I've been practicing my jutsus day and night and felt like I was starting to get a little better.

"What took you so long?" Neji's voice said in my ear.

Startled, I shot my head up and smashed my forehead with Neji's.

"Fuck…" I muttered, rubbing my now-bruised head.

"Such language," came Neji's reply.

I looked up and glared at him. He was sitting up in his bed and staring at me.

"Well, if you hadn't surprised me, then I wouldn't have said it," I growled.

"And if you hadn't been in your own little world, then I wouldn't have surprised you," Neji replied.

I stayed silent that time. I knew he was right.

"Why do you train before you visit me and then right after you leave?" Neji suddenly asked.

"How do you know I've been training?" I gave him a suspicious look.

"Just because I'm in the hospital, doesn't mean I can use Byakugun," was his reply.

I stared at him and then slapped him.

"Ow! Not that type of watching! Jesus! What do you take me for? A pervert?"

"Maybe," I shrugged and changed the subject. "Can you walk and stuff?"

Neji swung his legs over the bed and walked back and forth perfectly.

"If you can mobilize that well then why are you still here?"

"Lord Hiashi wants me to stay here a little longer to get the rest of my strength back."

"Oh, whatever. Now back to business, why were you watching me?" I questioned.

"I was wondering why you would always look so tired when you came here, so I was just investigating," he replied innocently. "Don't push it. You've been training hard for all I know since we came back to the village."

"God, what are you? My mom? I'll do whatever I want."

Neji looked at me hard, and then suddenly, he got a surprised look on his face, as if something had just clicked.

"Have you been training like that since we left to go retrieve Sasuke?" he asked.

"No," I muttered, not looking him in the eye.

"You have, haven't you?"

I remained silent.

"Is it because you haven't gone on any missions yet?"

I gripped the edge of the stool, knowing he had hit the nail on the head.

"I have to go," I said, standing up.

Before Neji could say anything else, I walked out of the room and headed back to the training grounds.

All afternoon, I drifted in and out of sleep, crying into my pillow every time I woke up until I finally got so exhausted that I fell back asleep. When twilight came, I didn't have the heart to paint the sunset, or talk to Angel. By the time nightfall fell, I couldn't sleep at all.

I looked over at the digital numbers of the clock and they read 11:47 p.m. Sighing, I mashed the pillow over my head and hummed quietly, trying to fall asleep. Of course, it didn't work. My thoughts were swimming around in my head, which felt like it was going to explode at any given moment.

I listened for anyone that might be pacing the hallway, but came up with nothing. I silently got out of bed, grabbed my iPod nano, and quietly slid the window open. Looking to make sure no one was looking; I slipped out and climbed onto the branch of a tree that was right by the window.

I cautiously made my way down the oak and finally landed on the ground. Plugging in only one earphone into my ear and turning to Three Days Grace, I strolled through the empty streets of the village.

It was a clear night. The moon was a shining silver disk surrounded by shimmering stars with no clouds whatsoever. The streets and buildings lit up in the moonlight, but still had a dark look hanging in the atmosphere. No indoor lights could be seen and the trees clawed at the sky whenever a breeze whisked by.

I had no idea where I was going. I just wanted to be somewhere quiet where I could clear my head.

Somehow, I found myself standing on top of the grassy hill where I first found Noah in this world; the hill that overlooked the Hokage's office and was below the Hokage Mountain.

I sat down and felt the soft grass graze the palms of my hands. The sweet smell of fresh air filled my nostrils and all was quiet, except for the beat of my iPod and maybe a cricket or two.

I sat there for a long time, not thinking about anything, just kind of staring at the sky. But then, I remembered the day's events and Tsunade's words.

_If we use it, there's only a fifty percent chance that he'll live, but if we don't, Noah will never walk again…_

So that means if they don't use this jutsu on him, he won't be able to walk…which means he won't be able to play soccer, which he's really talented at. But if they _do_ use it, there's only half a chance that he'll survive.

_Which is more precious?_ I asked myself. _The ability to run and be free or your life itself?_

It was a hard question to answer. I knew if Noah were given the choice, he'd pick to have the surgery, no matter what the risk.

Now the only question that remained was Tsunade willing to wait for Noah to regain consciousness to ask what he wants. Or would she just go ahead with the surgery? Or would she ask my opinion and put all the pressure on me?

Again, another difficult question. Just the thought of not being able to play soccer ever again would break his heart and destroy his dreams. And I couldn't do that do him, my own flesh and blood. Then again, would my brother would really be willing to risk his life just to do what he loves?

"Damn it," I growled out loud. "Why does everything bad always happen to me? I bet it's all because I broke my magnetic mirror in the locker room at school that one day. Yeah, that's it. And now I officially have seven years of bad luck…"

A tear slid down my cheek, but I didn't bother to wipe it away. I sighed and silence enveloped me like a blanket.

"Do you seriously believe in that shit?" a voice asked.

I quickly turned my head around to see Shikamaru standing a couple of feet away from me. He had his hands in his pockets and was just wearing his fishnet shirt and pants. He had a…concerned look on his face.

"Well, it brings comfort if that's what you're wondering," I replied, turning away.

"Does it?" he walked over and sat next to me.

"Yeah, I guess. I mean, what else am I going to blame for all that's happened?"

"Nothing. There's nothing you can blame. It was fate."

"You sound like Neji."

"It's the only explanation. For what's happened, it's neither your fault nor mine. There was nothing we could do to stop it."

I wiped my eyes and stared at the star-sprinkled sky.

"No," I whispered. "There was something I could've done. I could've gotten a job and worked until I got enough money, and then I could buy a condo or something for me, Angel, and Noah to live in so I could keep an eye on him."

"But you didn't. What's done is done."

I didn't reply and continued to gaze at the stars.

"I wonder if they can see the same stars that I can," I murmured to myself. "I wonder if they even care enough to notice that I'm gone…"

A few tears silently rolled down my face as my thoughts all came back to my brother. How he was still unaware of what was going on or the state he's in. The song _Pain _by Three Days Grace blasted in my ears.

"Madeline," Shikamaru suddenly said. "Give me your iPod. I want you to listen to something."

I stared at him but did as I was told. I watched him place an earphone in his right ear and scrolled through my songs. Finally, he stopped, smiled, and handed me the other piece, which I hesitantly placed in my left ear. Before the singing started, I instantly recognized it as _With Me_ by Sum 41.

_I don't want this moment to ever end_

_Where everything's nothing without you_

_I'll wait here forever just to, to see you smile_

'_Cause it's true, I am nothin' without you_

_Through it all,_

_I've made my mistakes_

_I stumble and fall_

_But I mean these words_

_I want you to know_

_With everything I won't let this go_

_These words are my heart and soul_

_I'll hold on to this moment you know_

'_Cause I'll bleed my heart out to show,_

_And I won't let go_

_Thoughts read unspoken forever in vow_

_And pieces of memories fall to the ground_

_I know what I didn't have so I won't let this go_

'_Cause it's true, I am nothin' without you_

_All the streets_

_Where I walked alone_

_With nowhere to go_

_Have come to an end_

_I want you to know_

_With everything I won't let this go_

_These words are my heart and soul_

_I'll hold on to this moment you know_

'_Cause I'll bleed my heart out to show,_

_And I won't let go_

_In front of your eyes_

_It falls from the skies_

_When you don't know what you're looking to find_

_In front of your eyes_

_It falls from the skies_

_When you just never know what you will find_

_What you will find…_

_What you will find…_

_What you will find…_

_What you will find…_

_I don't want this moment to ever end_

_Where everything's nothin' without you_

_I want you to know_

_With everything I won't let this go_

_These words are my heart and soul_

_I'll hold onto this moment you know_

_As I'll bleed my heart out to show_

_And I won't let go_

_I want you to know_

_With everything I won't let this go_

_These words are my heart and soul_

_I'll hold onto this moment you know_

_As I'll bleed my heart out to show_

_And I won't let go_

As the song was playing, I smiled and lay down on the grass, my heads behind my head. Small tears escaped from my eyes, no matter how hard I tried to keep them back. I felt Shikamaru's gaze on me, so I closed my eyes and turned on my side away from him. When the song ended, I felt Shikamaru's hand gently rest on my arm and his warm breath on the back of my neck.

"You need to stop grieving," he whispered in my ear. "Or he'll be harder to let go if he is gone."

"…I know Shikamaru," I replied softly, sniffing, my eyes still closed. "He's been hurt more times than I could count…but it's never been life-threatening."

He didn't reply and the song was already repeating for the third time. Instead, his arms wrapped around my waist and pulled me close to him. My eyes snapped open and I froze. I could hear the soft beating of his heart in between pauses in the song and feel the rise and fall of his chest as he inhaled and exhaled.

"Go to sleep Maddie," he said softly. "You need to rest."

And so I did. I fell asleep with music in my ears and Shikamaru's warm embrace around my waist under the stars.

I leaned up against a tree trunk and held my side with my hand that was clutching a kunai knife, gasping for oxygen. I slid down to the ground and closed my eyes. I had been training out here ever since I left the hospital, and that was in the late afternoon. The sun had set and the sky had become dark about four hours ago, which meant I had been training for about five hours.

I checked the clock on my iPod Video and it read 12:00 am.

_Okay, _I thought. _That's enough for one day. I'll be lazy tomorrow and start training the following day in the early morning._

I stood up and was about to leave, when I heard a twig snap. I whirled around and held my kunai up to my face. I stood there, waiting for the person to show themselves, but no one ever emerged from the shadows.

"Must be a bird or something," I muttered, putting my knife away.

I slung my little backpack I had brought over my shoulder, gathered stamina into my feet, and jumped into the branches of the trees. I leaped from branch to branch for not that long, probably only ten minutes or so. I finally came to the clearing I had found out while training, landed on the ground, and smiled.

The clearing was probably the length of half a football field with green trees and plants everywhere. Multiple waterfalls branched off from an eroded cliff face and roared into a sparkling pool. The pool broke into a tiny stream that eventually disappeared.

I set my backpack on a rock by the pool, took off my sandals, and tested the water with my foot. It wasn't freezing, but it wasn't warm. It was neutral, and that's the perfect temperature. Scanning the area to make sure no one was around; I stripped off my clothes, changed into my swimsuit, climbed onto a rock, and dove into the water.

The pool was ridiculously deep, and it took me a while before I finally reached the surface. I was about to do some laps, but I heard some rustling. I instantly got chin deep in the water and looked around, not daring to breathe. I finally breathed a sigh of relief when a little rabbit emerged from the bushes, wrinkled its nose, and hopped away.

"Damn animals," I growled. "Scaring the shit outta me."

I ignored it and swam around in the water, sometimes doing laps, sometimes diving down and coming up the other side. I then decided to work on walking on water while I had the chance. I climbed out, placed my right foot delicately on the surface of the water, and focused my chakra to my feet. For the next hour, I fell time after time into the pool. Finally, I started to get it, but still couldn't walk that long on the water.

Done with training for the night, I ran over to my backpack, shivering. I pulled out a fluffy towel, dried myself off, and then took out an extra pair of clothes. They were the same ones I had arrived in the Naruto world with on: a black Hurley shirt with yellow and pink palm trees in the upper left corner, a pair of dark blue jeans, and black and purple Converse.

I picked up my backpack, put in my iPod earphones, and listened to Linkin Park and Three Days Grace while walking along a dirt path. I emerged from the trees about twenty minutes later and found myself at the Leaf Village's park. The park looked so dark and weird at night, but then again, it also had that nice and quiet atmosphere covered in moonlight.

I shrugged and strolled away in the grass. I had walked about a football field or two away from the park when I came to a cluster of trees. Raising an eyebrow, I weaved through the trunks and came to an amazing clearing.

A sparkling pond was right in the middle of the clearing surrounded by cattails, rosemary, and cream colored lilies. A few lily pads floated in the crystal blue water and the faint croaking of a frog and chirping of crickets could be heard. Long, flowing grass surrounded the entire area and rose up to my shins. Some giant boulders were off to one side of the pond and the entire scene was bathed in silver moonlight. Tiny fireflies flew lazily in the air.

I dropped my backpack to the ground, walked over to the giant boulders, and climbed and sat on the top of the biggest one, which was probably a little taller than me. I looked up and gazed at the full moon and shining stars in the dark sky. After about fifteen minutes, I was about to doze off when a hand covered my mouth and a strong arm yanked me off the rock. I think the person said something, but I couldn't hear them, so they had to pull out my earphones.

"What are you doing in my secret spot?" the voice demanded.

No surprise. It was Neji.

I tried answering, but his hand was still cupped over my mouth. When he realized this, he let go of me and I was free. Once I had regained my bearings, Neji repeated his question.

"How the hell should I know this is _your_ spot?" I growled. "I just found this place like twenty minutes ago. Goddamn, cut me a little slack will ya?...Wait, what are you doing here? I thought the people at the hospital didn't let you out of your room."

"This is the place where I meditate," he replied, shrugging. "How I got here is none of your damn business."

"Whatever, just don't bug the shit outta me. I came here to relax."

"As if I already didn't know that," Neji muttered.

"WHAT?! What's that supposed to mean?! Were you watching me?!"

Neji turned away from me and remained silent.

"YOU FUCKING PERVERTED SON OF A BITCH!!"

I slapped him across the face. Hard. It was one of those moments that made the _SMACK!_ echo. I stood there, quivering with rage as I watched Neji slowly turn his head back to me. He hadn't dodged it or even flinched when I hit him. He stared blankly at me as I glared back.

"DO YOU KNOW HOW FUCKING RUDE THAT IS?!" I screamed. "I swear to God I'm gonna beat the living shit out of you!!"

"Then do so," Neji said monotonously. "It's not like I care."

"THAT'S THE WHOLE GODDAM POINT!! YOU DON'T CARE ABOUT ANYTHING!! Not me, Hinata, or anyone else!!"

I lifted my hand to slap Neji again, but his hand caught my wrist. Before I knew it, he pushed me into the wall of the boulder. My back slammed up against the hard surface and I gritted my teeth. He had both of my arms pinned above my head so I couldn't move them. When I lifted my head, Neji's eyes were staring into mine.

"That's the problem," Neji whispered. "I can't seem to stop caring."

I raised my eyebrows in astonishment and opened my mouth to say something, anything, but nothing came out. Taking that as my answer, Neji grabbed one of my iPod earphones, placed it in his ear, and searched for a song. Finally, he placed the other in my own ear and pressed Play. I instantly recognized the song as _Over and Over_ by Three Days Grace.

_I feel it everyday, it's all the same_

_It brings me down, but I'm the one to blame_

_I've tried everything to get away_

_So here I go again, chasing you down again_

_Why do I do this?_

_Over and over, over and over_

_I fall for you_

_Over and over, over and over_

_I try not to_

_It feels like everyday stays the same_

_It's dragging me down and I can't pull away_

_So here I go again, chasing you down again_

_Why do I do this?_

_Over and over, over and over_

_I fall for you_

_Over and over, over and over_

_I try not to_

_Over and over, over and over_

_You make me fall for you_

_Over and over, over and over_

_You don't even try_

_So many thoughts that I can't get out of my head_

_I try to live without you but every time I do I feel dead_

_I know what's best for me_

_But I want you each day_

_I'll keep on wasting all my time_

_Over and over, over and over_

_I fall for you_

_Over and over, over and over_

_I try not to_

_Over and over, over and over_

_You make me fall for you_

_Over and over, over and over_

_You don't even try to_

I always loved this song, but never knew someone would feel like that about me. I met Neji's face to see that he was smiling.

"You…do?" I finally managed to ask.

"Yes," Neji's forehead touched mine. "More than you or anyone will ever know."

I felt the rapid shock of heat rise to my face and searched those lavender orbs of his to see if he really meant it…and he did. And suddenly, they were shining, asking a question. My eyebrows rose and I smiled ever so slightly. Neji smiled and closed the little space between our two faces with his lips. At first, I was as stiff as a board, trying to analyze what was happening. But he was kissing me so lightly and softly, that I couldn't help but respond by kissing back just as he did. It was the best kiss of my life…well, it was my first kiss so what do you expect me to think? What seemed like an eternity to me was probably only half a minute or so in reality. We finally broke apart and Neji smiled at me.

"Does that prove my point?" he asked quietly.

I nodded, unable to speak. Neji's smile grew and he pulled me down to the ground so I was sitting up against the boulder. He then wrapped his arm around my waist and I was pulled closer to him so I could literally hear him inhale and exhale.

"Promise me you won't train as hard as you have been doing?" he asked softly.

_As long as I can go on missions,_ I thought. _Otherwise, no._

"Um…okay," I replied, just to humor him.

"I'm serious," he squeezed my hand. "This isn't something to take lightly. You could get seriously injured and no one would know about it. You have to be careful."

"Okay, fine," I groaned, leaning my head against his shoulder.

"Good," Neji smiled. "Now get some rest."

I rolled my eyes and closed them, and in a minute, I fell asleep.

When I peeked open my eyes, dawn was just breaking. The sun was just rising and the sky was a mixture of light blues, light pinks, and lavenders. It was probably the light that woke me up. I can't sleep with the slightest amount of light showing.

I yawned widely, made my eyes open, and saw that Shikamaru was still holding me close to him. The left side of my face was pressed into his fishnet shirt-covered chest and the other focused on his strong but gentle arms around me. His head ever so slightly leaned against mine.

When I fully grasped the situation, I immediately blushed like hell and slowly tried to slide my way out, but Shikamaru just held on tighter. I could feel his warm breath on my face.

"What a drag," he said softly. "Don't be troublesome and just relax."

I sighed and closed my eyes, trying to focus on the steady beat of his heart. We lay there for a few minutes, me focusing on Shikamaru's warmth so I wouldn't get cold from the early morning breeze.

"We should probably get back to the hospital before they realize you're gone," he suddenly said. "Although they've probably already established search parties."

"Okay," I replied.

Shikamaru let go of me, stood, stretched, and offered me a hand. I lay on the grass for a moment, too tired and lazy to get up. But finally, I groaned tiredly, accepted his hand, stood too, and started to be led down the hill. I took a step and stumbled, my legs and feet numb from not moving for so long. I caught myself but then tripped over a gopher hole and fell to the grass, taking Shikamaru with me. We rolled about halfway down the hill before stopping.

"Ow, dammit," I groaned, rubbing my head. "You okay?"

"Yeah," he replied. "You?"

"Somewhat."

That's when I realized that he was basically on top of me, hands on either side of the grass and on his knees. I felt the heat rise to my cheeks and looked away.

"You know, you're cuter when you blush," he remarked.

That comment made me blush even more and look up at him. We stared at each other for a while and a breeze whisked by. I searched those chocolate-orbs of his and they suddenly were asking a question. My eyebrows rose ever so slightly and I shyly nodded, blushing ever more.

Shikamaru smiled and slowly brought his head down. My heart started beating faster and my stomach did flips. I closed my eyes and felt Shikamaru's warm lips ever so slightly brush against mine. I lay there, immobile, frozen, trying to make my brain work. The only thing that I noticed was when we broke apart to breathe. The moment had been perfect and the kiss was the softest and greatest kiss I had ever received. In fact, it was technically my _first_ kiss. Shikamaru rolled off me onto the grass and held me, my head resting on his chest.

"C'mon, we better get going," he said after five minutes or so.

But I didn't want to go back to the hospital. I didn't even want to get up. I just wanted to stay here with Shikamaru forever.

He pulled me to my feet and we walked down the rest of the hill, no tripping. As we were strolling through the streets, we passed the Teahouse and Ramen Bar.

"Want something to eat besides hospital food?" Shikamaru jerked his head in the direction of the Teahouse.

"No it's okay," I shook my head. "I don't have any money."

"Don't worry, I'll pay."

"What? You don't have to…"

"Don't be a drag. I told you, it's fine."

I followed him inside and we sat at a low table. A waitress brought us each a cup of tea and a plate of dumplings to share.

"I'll take the rice balls," I told her. "With some miso soup."

"Eh, just rice balls," Shikamaru said.

She nodded and arrived with our food ten minutes later.

Just as I was finishing my third rice ball, a cluster of footsteps raced into the restaurant.

"She in here?" a voice asked.

"Has to be," a familiar female voice replied. "We've already checked all the other places she 'hangs out.'"

I recognized the second voice as Shizune's and slid down in my seat. Someone tapped my shoulder about ten seconds later. I turned and faced the angry medical ninja.

"Well, when word got out that you and Naruto had snuck out of the hospital, I'd hoped that you two would be training," she said, her arms crossed. "Instead, I find you two at restaurants just soaking it up."

"Don't you think I'm getting kinda tired of hospitals?" I shot back. "In like the last, what, half a year, I've been there four goddam times!"

"It doesn't matter. You still have to recover. Now, stop making a scene and let's go."

One of the two hospital men with her grabbed my arm and started dragging me towards the entrance.

"You know," Shikamaru called out. "If she was able to sneak out and walk around, then doesn't that mean that she can be released from the hospital and recover on her own at home?"

"She may think she's fine, she may look like she's fine, she may even feel that she's fine, but she isn't. She still has injuries to heal, but they're minor, so, she'll probably be sent home in about another week."

Shikamaru nodded and followed us out of the Teahouse, the man still dragging me. We met up with another group at the Ramen Bar, where they had Naruto tied up in rope.

"Oh, hey, Madeline," he laughed bitterly. "They caught you too, huh?"

I rolled my eyes and nodded and he grinned stupidly at me. We were then taken back to the hospital, where they did a quick check-up on me before forcing me back into bed while Shikamaru went off to visit Chouji.

"Just be glad that we're not tying you to the bed like we did with Naruto," Shizune said, scribbling something on her clipboard. "Don't worry, though. You should be outta here soon so you can train or do whatever you want."

She got up from the chair she was sitting in and headed for the door.

"What about Noah?" I called out. "Have they done the surgery yet?"

Shizune stopped in her tracks and looked over her shoulder at me.

"Lady Tsunade is supposed to perform it in a couple of hours," she replied. "She found that if she used ground deer antlers along with some other herbs and applied it to the patient's legs, it'll act like a medicine barrier and will increase the chance of him living from fifty percent to about seventy-five."

"Really?"

"Uh huh. You should thank the Nara family for that. They let Lady Tsunade borrow their medicine book to help Chouji Akimichi recover. While she was looking through there, she came across this…substance. She's pretty confident that it'll work, so there's nothing to worry about."

With that, she left the room for me to actually feel like everything was finally turning around.

At first, when I woke up, I didn't know where the hell I was.

_Maybe I'm going crazy_ I thought. _I probably trained my ass off last night and collapsed from exhaustion and now I can't remember what happened._

That's when I noticed my head was resting on Neji's shoulder and his arm was wrapped around my waist. I raised an eyebrow at Neji, silently asking him what the hell he was doing. But then everything from last night came back to me and an embarrassed blush plastered across my face. I tried sliding out of his grasp, but he just pulled me closer to him.

"Where are you going?" Neji whispered.

"Um…" I scrambled for an excuse. "I wanted to start training again."

Neji smirked and shook his head.

"I need to get back to the hospital and you should probably go home so Hiashi won't worry."

I thought about it and knew he was right.

"Fine," I muttered.

"Good," he stood up. "I guess I'll see you around then?"

"Um…ok."

Neji smiled, waved, and disappeared, leaving me to walk back to home and get scolded by Lord Hiashi.

I probably sat in that bed for about four hours, praying over and over again that Noah would overcome the surgery. At one point, my nurse came in to check on me, but I hardly paid any attention to her. When she left, I decided to wait outside of the operating room. So I left the tiny room and sat on the bench outside of the operating room.

I spent most of my time just sitting there, twiddling my thumbs. Occasionally, I would glance over at the giant double doors, but the red light above them would still be on. About an hour into the surgery, Shikamaru came over and sat on the opposite bench, but he didn't say anything. At one point, a nurse asked if I wanted to head back to my room, but I declined the offer.

Finally, the double doors opened. My head shot up and a nurse came running out, her heels clicking against the tile floor.

"Miss Maddie!" she cried. "Lady Tsunade needs to speak to you right away!"

I exchanged a worried glance with Shikamaru and stood.

"You can come if you want," she said to Shikamaru. "The Hokage could use some help with the Nara's medicine book."

He nodded and we followed the nurse into the room. The Operating Room was a fairly large room lit by faint electric paneling. There were four nurses crowded around a bed that was surrounded by candles. Tsunade was at a counter, reading an enormous propped up book. The surface of the counter was littered with tiny bowls and jars. She looked up and beckoned us forward with her hand.

"What's going on?" I asked. "Is Noah okay? Did something go wrong?"

"It's not going as planned," Tsunade looked at me with tired eyes. "The jutsu is way stronger than I had assumed. The forbidden healing jutsu combined with the medicine removed small portions of it, but it's not enough to remove it entirely. If we don't do something soon…"

She didn't need to finish the sentence for me to know what she was going to say. Before she could say anything else, a nurse called her over. The Hokage ran over to my brother, put her hand on his head, and a green light started to emit.

As this was happening, I stood there, staring where Tsunade had just stood.

_This can't be happening,_ I thought. _There's just no way._

I felt a hand on my shoulder and cringed at the touch.

"You gonna be okay?" Shikamaru asked.

I made no reply and felt him pull me to his chest. I pressed my face into his shirt and lowered my eyes to the ground.

_Just look at you, _I thought angrily to myself. _All you do is stand by and cry. Is that really all you can do? Are you really just going to have your brother die without doing anything about it?_

"He's breathing is becoming uneven!" I heard a nurse report. "We need some chakra to help out his heart and respiratory system!"

I opened my eyes and glanced over at the bed. Tsunade had her hands on my brother's chest with green healing chakra emitting from them.

_No._

I suddenly knew what I could do and pulled away from Shikamaru's arms. Before he could say anything, I walked over to the bed and stared at my brother's face. It was calm, but pale, with his eyes closed.

I formed chakra into my hands and a white flame emitted.

"Here," I held them out to Tsunade. "You can use my chakra. Direct to wherever it needs to go in his body."

The Hokage stared at me, but a small smile grew seconds later and she nodded.

"Alright," she said. "Put your hands on top of mine."

I did as I was told. My chakra mixed with hers and the green light turned into a neon, lime green light. I closed my eyes, but still focused my chakra to my hands.

"Someone keep the chakra flowing through his body," I heard Tsunade command. "Another, add the medicine to his legs. I'll perform the jutsu once it's on."

I felt her hands be replaced with another pair but it didn't matter. There was a clicking of heels against tile and people rushing all over the room.

"Okay, ready?" the Hokage asked me.

"Yes," I whispered, opening my eyes.

She nodded, made some hands signs, and placed her hands on Noah's legs. The white light emitting from her hands slowly got brighter and brighter. I started to feel drained and ground my teeth. I could literally feel my chakra growing weaker and my hands started to shake.

"Stay with me, Madeline," Tsunade said.

I tried to increase the chakra that was discharging from my hands, but nothing happened. I swayed back and forth.

"We're almost done! Hang in there!"

I squeezed my eyes shut and managed to gather the last of my chakra in my hands and released it in a big and long burst. I then cracked open my eyes and watched Tsunade's chakra explode into a million colors. The light got brighter and brighter until I couldn't see at all, but I kept putting my chakra into my brother's body.

The light slowly faded and I slid my hands away from Noah. I felt myself start to fall, but I couldn't stop myself. Before I hit the tiled floor, someone caught me.

"You did it, Maddie," Shikamaru whispered in my ear. "It's over."

I smiled weakly and then everything went black.

**Yes! The drama is over!...Sort of. I'm going to stop here for a while even though I can still post like two more chapters, but I want to get some more reviews and stuff, so yeah…I don't know. --'**


	23. Finding Our Power

**Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto or any of the brand names I mention in this story. I also don't own any of the music lyrics that appear.**

Chapter 23

Finding Our Power

I woke up for what seemed like an eternity later. My eyes were still closed but I was still awake and fully aware that I wasn't in the hospital bed anymore. I felt that a blanket and comforter was on me and I was lying on a soft mattress.

I tried falling back to sleep, but it didn't work so I finally opened my eyes and saw that I was back in my room. All of my 'Get-Well' cards and gifts were stacked on my little table on the left side of the wall. Other than Angel was lying on a cushion on the floor at the foot of my bed, no one was in my room.

I got out of my bed and stumbled out of the room, still half-asleep. As I was rummaging through the fridge for some juice, I noticed a note on the counter and picked it up.

Madeline,

I went out to do some training with my team. If you wake up while I'm gone, just make yourself some breakfast and take it easy. We checked you out of the hospital a few days after you passed out because the Hokage said you'd be fine in no time. I should be back by sunset. Hope you feel better.

Ten-Ten

I set the note on the kitchen table and made myself a bowl of Oh's cereal, some cinnamon toast, and a glass of pineapple-orange-banana juice. Halfway through eating, Angel trotted in and begged to be fed. I was forced to get up and pour her a bowl of dog food before finishing my breakfast. I then went out to the balcony and gazed at the Leaf Village. Angel came out a little while later and nudged me.

_What do you want to do now? I'm bored._

"I know," I sighed. "But I can't really do anything."

I spotted some children running through the streets and into a bakery, urging their mothers to hurry up. The smell of freshly baked bread, cake, and cookies made my nostrils scream in pleasure. I could also see Chouji walking, munching on some BBQ chips.

"Hey, I got an idea," I said. "Why don't we make some cookies and then deliver them to everyone? It's fun, it'll give us something to do today, and practically everyone loves homemade treats."

_Yeah! Let's do it!_

We headed back into the kitchen and searched it entirely for the ingredients, but it turned out that Ten-Ten didn't have anything. I got onto my laptop and searched my files until I found the family's recipes and printed the Chocolate Chip Cookie Lite recipe. I also decided to print out the White Chocolate Macadamia Nut Cookie recipe to add a little twist to the bags I was going to be passing out. I then dressed in my casual clothes, locked the door to the condo, and headed for the grocery store with Angel at my heels.

"Okay, let's try to hurry and get all this stuff," I told Angel, grabbing a shopping basket. "It's going to take us forever to make enough batches of Chocolate Chip and White Chocolate Macadamia Nut Cookies for everyone. And then we have to deliver all of them."

She nodded and jumped onto my shoulder so the staff wouldn't kick us out. I glanced at the list of ingredients for the cookies.

**1 bag of all-purpose flour**

**1 bag of white sugar**

**1 bag of granulated sugar**

**1 bag of brown sugar**

**1 can of baking soda**

**1 can/bottle of vanilla**

**1 can/bottle of vanilla extract**

**1 container/can of salt**

**1 carton of eggs**

**1 stick of butter**

**1 jar of regular applesauce**

**1 bag of semi-sweet chocolate chips**

**1 bag of white chocolate chips**

**1 bag of chopped macadamia nuts**

"So much stuff," I sighed. "Okay, let's get this over with."

It wasn't that hard to find the sugar, flour, baking soda, and salt, since they were all in the same area. The eggs and butter were also easy because they were in the refrigerated section. However, I had to run all over the mart just to find the vanilla, vanilla extract, and bags of chocolate chips and nuts. Finally, though, I was done and paid for the groceries and headed back to the condo.

"Now is when I really miss cars," I groaned under the weight of the bags.

It took me about twenty minutes to carry the paper bags back to the condo, even though it only took me about seven minutes to get to the store. When I got to the door, I had to set the groceries down to the ground to get my key out. And when I unlocked it, I had to push myself to pick up the bags and set them on the table.

"Okay," I clapped my hands together. "Let's bake some cookies!"

I cranked up my iPod in my iHome and I opened up the windows to let in some fresh air. Linkin Park blasted through the kitchen as I opened up the ingredients of the Chocolate Chip Cookies and went over the recipe.

I turned on the oven, preheated it to 375 degrees, and added the flour, baking soda, and salt into a bowl, stirring it with a wooden spoon. I then stirred the white and brown sugar, vanilla extract, egg white, and applesauce into a separate bowl until they were smooth before adding it all to the batter in the bigger bowl until it was nice and moist. Finally, I mixed in the chocolate chips and started spooning the batter out onto unsprayed cookie sheets. I placed three of the six sheets into the oven and started to make the White Chocolate Macadamia Nut Cookies.

I let the butter soften before I added it into a bowl with the granulated sugar, vanilla, and salt and beat it until it was creamy. After I added the two eggs, I took out the cookies from the oven, set them on the counter to cool, and put the other three into the oven. Next, I stirred in the flour and baking soda until the batter was all blended. Then, I mixed in the white chocolate chips and macadamia nuts, spooned out the dough onto more unsprayed cookie sheets. By the time I was ready to place the first three Macadamia Cookie sheets into the oven, the last three of the Chocolate Chip Cookie sheets were done.

While the sheets were baking and cooling, I placed all of the bowls and mixing utensils into the sink and ran hot water all over them. When I was halfway through washing the dishes, I switched the sheets out and baked the last three sheets of the Macadamia Nut Cookies. After I dried everything off and returned them to their rightful places. I pulled out the last sheets of cookies and set them on the counter to cool.

I searched the entire pantry before I finally found some nice bags made of cloth with an adjustable string and some labels. I sat down at the table and wrote down all of the peoples' names on the labels and stuck them to the bags. Finally, I grabbed a spatula, slid the cookies off their sheets, and filled all of the bags up with my treats. I tied the ends of the bags off, hurriedly scrubbed the cookie sheets and spatula, put them away, and found a leather bag that could have the end close if you pulled on the two strings that I could place all of the mini bags in.

I closed the windows, showered; blow dried my hair, and changed into my ninja clothing. Slinging the bag over my shoulder, I left the condo in search of everyone I had to deliver my cookies to.

The closest people were Lilian and the Hyuuga Family. When Lilian opened the door and I gave her the bag, she practically fainted because she loves cookies so much.

"Can I help deliver the rest?" she pleaded.

"No, it's okay," I replied. "It makes the treat all the more special if it's delivered by the person who made them."

"M'kay, whatever. See ya later."

"Bye."

The next people were Asuma, Ino, and Chouji, who I met up at the BBQ Restaurant. I gave Chouji the bag labeled Team 10 and he hugged me until I couldn't breathe. I met up with Kakashi while walking the streets and he gladly accepted his bag with a smile behind his mask. Kiba actually smelled the scent of cookies from me and Akamaru would've tackled me if I wouldn't have moved out of the way. Kiba was more than happy to take the bag for him and the rest of Team 8.

"Hey, Gaara!" I called out when I spotted him.

He turned his head slightly around to look at me. I rummaged through the backpack-bag-thing while I walked over to him. I found it on the top and felt the red leather. The label read

To Gaara, Temari, and Kankurou!

Thanks for helping the village out when we needed you, especially you Kankurou. I wouldn't be here right now if it weren't for you.

Enjoy!

Madeline

"Here ya go," I held out the bag to him.

Gaara just stared at me like I was from Mars. I cocked an eyebrow and held them out further to him.

"Don't worry. It's not anything dangerous. They're just cookies I made today."

He continued to look at me, as if deciding whether he could trust me or not.

"You're…giving them…to me?" he finally managed to ask. "You…aren't afraid…of me?"

"Of course I'm not afraid. There isn't any reason to be. You aren't a monster, just misunderstood."

Gaara smiled a small smile and slowly took the bag of cookies from me.

"Thank…you…" he said.

"Sure," I smiled. "Well, I gotta go. I still have to deliver the rest of these. Tell Temari and Kankurou I said 'hi.'"

He nodded and I walked off.

The next destination was the hospital, where I'd be delivering a bag to Naruto and a bag to Sakura if she were there. I jumped from roof to roof until I was at Naruto's room window. I looked in and saw Naruto tied up in his bed with Shizune scribbling on her clipboard next to his bed. Naruto noticed me and I waved while Shizune got up and opened up the window.

"Hi," I said, jumping into the room.

"Hello," Shizune greeted.

"Hey, Madeline!" Naruto cried. "Whaddaya doing here?"

"Oh, just dropping you off some 'Get-Well' treats."

I took out his bag and placed it on his chest.

"Wow! Cookies!! They smell good!"

"Thanks. I just made them about an hour or two ago."

"Awesome! Shizune, can I eat them?!"

"I'm not sure," Shizune crossed her arms. "I can't take the risk of untying you. What if you escape again?"

"I won't! I promise!"

"Okay, fine."

She untied him and he sat bolt straight up. As he was opening up the bag, I handed Shizune one of her own.

"A thank you gift for you, Tsunade, and any other Leaf Village shinobi you may share with," I explained. "For taking care of me, my brother, and my teammates."

Shizune smiled and we watched Naruto gobble down three cookies at once.

"Is that even humanly possible?" I asked, averting my eyes.

"It is now," Shizune shuddered.

Suddenly, there was a knock at the door and it slid open, revealing Sakura.

"Oh, am I interrupting something?" she asked.

"No," Shizune shook her head and left.

We watched her leave and Sakura walked over to Naruto's bed.

"Hi, Maddie," she smiled slightly.

"Hey," I started to rummage through my bag. "Here, these are for you."

"Thank you," she accepted the cookies gratefully.

"Well, I'm heading off," I climbed out of the window. "See ya!"

The final destination was Shikamaru's place. It took me about half an hour to get there.

"Damn," I muttered after the guard recognized me and let me into the ranch. "Why does Shikamaru have to live so far away?"

When I got to the house, Mrs. Nara basically crushed me to death with a hug before I could even say anything. After I got to finally ask where Shikamaru was, she said he was somewhere in the fields.

"I should've known," I said aloud, walking through the grass.

I finally spotted him lying in the grass, hands folded behind his head, eyes closed. I smiled, walked over to him quietly, and got down to his level. I was about to say 'BOO!' really loud in his ear, but his nose wrinkled and his eyebrows knitted together.

"I smell cookies," he muttered to himself.

I hurriedly grabbed my stuff and jumped into the long grass a couple of feet away, belly down. I watched Shikamaru open his eyes, sit up, and look around.

"What are we looking at?" a voice whispered in my ear.

"WHAT THE HELL?!" I whipped around and bashed my forehead against his.

"Ow…" I groaned. "Damn it, Shikamaru. Why'd you have to sneak up on me?"

He chuckled lightly as I looked from him to the clone that vanished into a puff of smoke.

"But…but…but…" I stuttered. "How did you know?"

Shikamaru smiled and we sat next to each other.

"Easy," he replied. "One: I could hear my mom scream your name a million miles away. Two: You weren't that quiet when you came over here. And three: My mom hasn't made cookies for a long time. Why suddenly now?"

I shrugged and handed him the bag.

"They smell good," he smiled. "And they're warm too. Did you just make these?"

"Yeah," I nodded. "I decided to give them out to everyone to try to forget what's happened. Kind of like an okay-it's-all-over-so-let's-get-on-with-our-lives gift, if you know what I mean."

"I'm pretty sure I do…Want to share them? That is, if you can stand to see another cookie."

"Sure, if you don't mind. I haven't eaten anything since breakfast, so I'm actually kind of hungry."

Shikamaru pulled out six rice balls wrapped in a cloth.

"Here, have some," he held them out to me. "My mom just brought them out to me not to long ago since I didn't go home to eat. There are two sour plum, salmon, and just plain."

"Thanks."

"Sure."

I smiled and took one while Shikamaru opened up his bag of cookies. He bit into a chocolate chip cookie and we watched Angel chase the sheep through the fields.

"These are good," Shikamaru started on his second cookie. "Lucky for you I love cookies."

"Really? Thank God. I worked my butt off all day to make them, but I was worried some people wouldn't accept them because they don't like sweets, considering the fact that all you people are built like linebackers and train twenty-four seven."

"Well, that's because we live in a world of constant fighting and need to be prepared for it. I doubt you don't have to worry about anything in your world."

"Actually, there's a war going on right now, and it's been going on for five years. It's our entire stupid president's fault. He's like the Hokage, having the power and all, but he's a complete asshole. I'm going to be so glad when the elections come in 2009 so he'll be out of there."

"But you don't have anything to do with it, right?"

"Hell, no. But when there's fighting, you need people to fight for you so we have trained soldiers go out there for us."

"What you said, back at the party to Sasuke…" Shikamaru said, pausing. "Is it true?"

I raised an eyebrow at him. He had heard me? How? The music blasting and everyone was dancing, talking, or playing videogames. Was that all he did? Eavesdrop on my conversations? Or did he just happen to listen?

"Yeah, I guess," I replied. "It's usually how I feel when I'm not occupied with something. If you just saw how my world is, you'd probably think the same thing. Of course, I don't think that way about your world. This place totally kicks ass."

That part of the conversation ended right then and there, but I didn't care. Talking about Bush just made me more pissed off at the world. I munched on a white chocolate macadamia nut cookie and saw Shikamaru glance at the label.

"Why is Noah's name on here?" he asked, pointing to my handwriting.

"I didn't know if he was still in the hospital or if he's come home," I replied. "So I just put it on the bag I was giving to you and your family."

"He's still in the hospital, but Tsunade said he should be out by next week."

"Oh, that's good."

Shikamaru nodded and chomped on a rice ball. A cool breeze blew back my hair, tiny buttercups waved at us, and white fluffy clouds slowly crawled across the sky.

"The weather's nice and cool, but warm at the same time," I commented, just to say something. "It's never like this back where I live: dry. Even though the city is thirty minutes away from the sea, it's still warm year-round."

"Do you want to go back?" Shikamaru asked, looking at me.

I opened my mouth, but closed it and thought about it. I gazed up at the sky, as if the answer were up there waiting to be read.

"Um…well…Honestly, I don't really know. I mean, I want to go back so I can see my family and friends and get back to my regular life, but I want to stay here so I can be a ninja, not worry about school, and be with you guys. I guess…If I had the choice…I'd probably stay here."

"But you don't have to worry about being 'hunted' in your world," Shikamaru pointed out. "Here, the Akatsuki are after you, Noah, and Lilian. There's no telling when you're safe or not."

"That's true, but that'll just make me get stronger so I can face them."

I lay down on the grass with my hands folded behind head and gazed at the clouds.

"Well I'm glad to here that," he said. "That's what I like about you. You're so stubborn that you won't give anything up."

I looked over at him, surprised by his remark. Shikamaru had lied down on his side with his arm propped up to support his head. He was staring at me intently and smirking. Before either of us could do anything else, someone interrupted us.

"SHIKAMARU!!" it sounded like Ino's voice.

Indeed, it was. She stomped up to us and glared at Shikamaru.

"Where have you been?!" she shrieked, spit flying from her mouth. "Don't you remember that we had a mission today?! We were supposed to meet at the BBQ Restaurant before heading out!! Instead, you're lying on your lazy ass again!!"

Chouji came running up behind her, panting. He noticed me and waved. I smiled and waved back.

"Of course, I don't blame you at all, Madeline," Ino said sweetly to me. "Thanks for the cookies by the way."

"Sure," I shrugged.

"C'mon, Shikamaru!" Ino yanked him to his feet. "Asuma-sensei is waiting!"

"Damn, Ino," he groaned. "Stop being a drag. I'll go ok? I'll meet you there soon."

Her eyebrow twitched and she left in a huff. Chouji looked from me to Shikamaru and hurried off to catch up with Ino.

"God this sucks," he groaned. "I don't wanna go on the mission."

"Why not?" I asked curiously. "What do you have to do?"

"Just escort some shinobi back to his town. You know, to protect him from bandits. An easy C ranked mission. No big deal."

"Then why don't you want to go? It's freakin' easy money! It's not like you're going to do anything else."

"No, I get to be with you."

I stared at him while a blush quickly rose to my cheeks.

"Plus, escort missions are pretty long," he added quickly, turning his back on me. "Anyway, I guess I'll see you later."

He started to walk off, leaving me just to sit there.

"Wait," I got up. "Can I come too? I could really use the money if I'm going to move into my own place to keep a better eye on Noah. Plus, I haven't really been on that many missions, and this will provide me with some experience and sharpen my skills."

Shikamaru turned around and looked at me.

"Yeah, sure, I guess," he said after a moment. "I'm a Chuunin now, so I need to start leading missions on my own, not Asuma. I'm sure he wouldn't mind. Can you manage to be ready and meet us at the BBQ Restaurant in about half an hour?"

"What should I bring?" I asked.

"Some supplies, a sleeping bag, and weapons; you know, the usual stuff."

I nodded, waved, had Angel join me, and we jogged through the fields back home.

Once, I set foot in my condo, I was buzzing all over the place like a bee.

"Flashlight," I muttered, looking through the cupboards. "Where the hell is that damn emergency blanket? Ah, here it is…and the Tylenol, good…Hah! Found my extra drawing scrolls! Now if I could just find that first aid kit…"

Angel just sat on a cushion, watching me spazz out.

_Don't you think you're taking this thing a little too far?_

"It's basically my first _real _mission and I'm not going to screw it up," I said, plugging in my iPod nano to an outlet to charge.

_Well, we ain't going camping if that's what you're thinking._

"I know, but Shikamaru said that these types of missions take some time, so I'm not taking any chances."

I packed everything, including the outfit I had arrived in from my world, my pajamas, toothbrush, and hairbrush into a small white backpack, stuffed in a small pillow, and checked my weapons. Sliding a last kunai into my thigh pouch, I fastened a small sleeping bag to the top of my backpack and put my iPod into my pocket. Before I left, however, something caught my eye that was sticking out of my black Vans backpack. I pulled the paper out and realized it was a geographic map of the Naruto world I had printed out from the computer back at home.

Thinking it may come in use later, I folded it up and put it in my weapon pouch. Heaving my load over my shoulders, I took a last look around the place and left with Angel at my heels.

It took us about five minutes to get to the BBQ Restaurant. Ino, Shikamaru, and Chouji were already there, backpacks over their shoulders. Next to them, was a man dressed in a ragged shirt and shorts.

"Hey, Madeline," Shikamaru waved. "Ready?"

I nodded and Angel barked.

"This is the man we have to escort, Hayate (A/N: Not the one that died. It just happened to be the first name that popped into my head). We'll be first going to the Hidden Sand Village, where we'll stay for a day or two. Then, we'll be taking him to his home village, the Hidden Star Village. Is that clear to everyone?"

The three of us nodded.

"Alright, then, let's move out!"

I watched Madeline and her team disappear from the gates from my post on a roof. I clenched my fists and my eye twitched. There she goes again, on another mission! When the hell will I get to go on one?!

"Lilian!" Ten-Ten's voice snapped me out of my thoughts. "Our team has a mission and we're wondering if you'd like to come with us!"

I stared at her. Wow, that was quick.

"What kind of mission?" I asked.

"Um…we need to rescue some travelers that are being held captive by some rogue ninja. After, we need to escort them back to their home village. Sound easy?"

I nodded, "So what do I need to bring?"

"Oh some weapons, camping supplies like a flashlight, and a sleeping bag. You know, that kinda stuff. Meet us at the Main Gate in thirty minutes."

"How much longer Shikamaru?" Ino whined. "We've been walking for hours nonstop!"

"Quit your complaining, Ino," Shikamaru sighed. "You don't hear Chouji or Madeline saying anything."

"Huh?" I pulled out an earphone. I had been listening to my music the whole time.

"That's because Madeline's listening to her goddamn music and Chouji's eating!"

As Shikamaru ordered, I kept one earphone in, so I could listen to my music and for my surroundings.

"Okay, that's enough for today," Shikamaru set down his backpack. "We'll camp out here."

"But the sun's just setting!" Hayate protested. "We could still go another hour or so before dark!"

"The early bird catches the worm. Besides, do you really want to set up camp in the dark?"

Hayate remained silent while Shikamaru muttered, "Thought so. Okay guys; let's try to get a fire started! Chouji, you get wood, Ino, you gather some twigs as timber, and Madeline, you gather some kindling. I'll have Angel scout the area to make sure there aren't any enemy ninja nearby. Alright?"

We all nodded and spread out to find our stuff for the fire. I searched on the forest floor for some brushwood and came across some dead pine needles. No wonder this place smelled like pine. I gathered a whole load of the dry pine needles in my pouch along with some old man's beard. I then made my way back to the clearing. Chouji was breaking off branches from some nearby trees, and Ino was nowhere to be found.

"That should be more than enough," Shikamaru remarked as I emptied my pouch next to our so-called fire pit. He had cleared the entire dirt area and set up a ring of stones.

I then started to make the firewood in the tepee style with wood supporting it underneath. By then, Ino had returned with her sticks, and I placed those along with my kindling in.

"Okay, so does anyone know any fire jutsus?" Shikamaru asked.

Ino, Chouji, and Hayate shook their heads and turned to look at me.

"Me?" I gave them a weird look. "You must be kidding. My fire justsus suck so bad that I can't even perform them. Angel can do them, not me."

Shikamaru turned to my dog and she nodded. She trotted over to the fire pit, burped out some flames, and soon, the fire was blazing. Chouji and I dragged over some logs to sit on around the fire while Shikamaru, Hayate, and Ino set up their sleeping bags.

"So what do we eat for tonight, Shikamaru?" Chouji asked.

"I packed some extra lunches just in case you guys didn't bring any," Shikamaru replied, digging through his backpack.

He brought out some packages in food wrapped in cloth and handed them out to everyone. I shook my head as I held up a meal I had packed wrapped in cloth. I opened it up and munched on a sandwich, apple, and a chocolate chip cookie. I gave Angel some dog food I had packed and when I was done, I set up my sleeping bag right near the fire.

"Let's tell scary stories!" I grinned evilly.

"If there's anything that'll keep us up, it's that," Shikamaru sighed. "We'll tell them when we're done with the mission and are heading back to the village."  
I rolled my eyes and watched them fall asleep one by one until I was the last to be up. The sun had set about an hour ago, and the stars were starting to shine. That probably meant it was only seven thirty or so. Chouji snored loudly, and that made it all the more irritating.

"I'm bored," I said to Angel, who was lying next to me in her wolf form.

_Just go to sleep_, she growled.

"But I'm not tired," I groaned. "How am I supposed to sleep when Chouji is snoring like a log?"

She didn't respond and I figured she had fallen asleep. Sighing, I got off my sleeping bag and poked the fire with a long stick. After about ten minutes, I heard a twig snap. I instantly froze, slid out a kunai, and looked in the direction it had come from. When nothing came out, I assumed it was a bird or something and crawled back into my sleeping bag. However, I stayed up for at least another hour before finally falling asleep.

"Are we there yet?" I asked for the fifth time.

"No," Ten-Ten groaned. "But we should stop soon, it's getting dark."

"Good idea," Neji agreed. "Let's find a good camping spot and we'll set everything up."

"Aye-aye, Neji!" Lee snapped him a crisp salute.

"Okay, that should be good," Neji dusted his hands off.

I sighed and lay down on my sleeping bag. We had our campsite located in a clearing with a small trickling stream carving through it. Neji had made a fire pit and I had easily lit it with a fire jutsu. The sun had set and we all had our sleeping bags set up by the blazing fire.

"So, where exactly are these ninja we're tracking?" Lee asked.

I sat up and looked at Neji. I had been wondering the same thing.

"What we've been told, is that the group is hiding somewhere near the Hidden Grass Village," Neji replied. "At least, that's where we think the hideout is. There is most likely another group moving about that area."

"Why exactly are these ninja taking people as hostages?" Ten-Ten fiddled with her pillow.

"I was told that the ninja, the clan, want their land back that another clan had inherited without permission. So, as a result, they have kidnapped some innocent members from the clan and demand the land to be given back to them. Either that, or be given enough money to purchase the same amount of land they once had."

"What retards," I muttered.

"Don't take this situation lightly, Lilian," Neji warned. "These ninja are more than likely tougher than they sound."

"I wasn't taking them lightly!" I shot back. "I was just saying their asses because all they care about is land!"

Neji just shook his head, said a goodnight to everyone, turned on his side, and went to sleep.

"Well, here we are," Shikamaru said. "The Hidden Sand Village."

"I'll give them one thing," I covered my eyes as sand flew in my face. "They surely gave the perfect name for this place."

After speaking with the guards at the outer wall, we walked along between two cliffs and came face to face with the whole Sand Village. All the houses looked like bee hives glazed with sand.

"So where are we staying, Shikamaru?" Ino asked as we strolled the streets.

"I got us reservations at a hotel," he replied. "Girls have one room and boys another."

We stopped in front of a building and looked at it. Unlike all of the other beehive shaped buildings of the village, this one was supported by granite columns with a bazillion fountains and statues. Lush green plants and trees surrounded the entire exterior of the hotel.

We entered the automatic sliding glass doors and stepped into a nice warm lobby with wooden flooring and plush furniture. After checking in and receiving our room cards, we headed into the elevator and arrived at our floor.

"Oh God, it feels so good to be on a bed again," I flopped on the bed, closed my eyes, and sighed. "Especially a queen bed that I get all to myself."

"I would prefer a futon," Ino pouted.

"Hey, at least we're sleeping on a bed tonight with a roof over our heads. Be grateful for that!"

Ino just rolled her eyes, muttered something about me being a stupid tomboy, and flipped on the tv. I opened my eyes, groaned, sat up, and walked over to the balcony. I leaned over the railing and gazed at the Sand Village. It was like back when I first came to this world, when I was gazing at the Leaf Village. I then was suddenly thinking if there were some way I could go back to my world but still get back to this world whenever I wanted. If I couldn't go back to my world, what would I do in this world for the rest of my life?

"Madeline?" Ino's voice came through my thoughts. "You okay? You're spacing out."

"Huh?" I turned to see her leaning on the rail next to me, a nervous look on her face. "Oh yeah, sure, I'm fine. I'm just thinking."

"Oh, okay. Well, I was just wondering if you wanted to go out for dinner to night with me. You know, like to a restaurant or something."

"Sure," I shrugged. "Nothing else to do. Should we tell Shikamaru and those guys?"

"You can if you want," Ino replied in an I-don't-really-care tone.

I shrugged again, left the room, and stood in front of the door right next to ours. I knocked a couple of times and waited…and waited and waited and waited and waited and waited.

"Shikamaru," I called, knocking again. "It's Madeline."

No response.

"Well, I just wanted to let you know that Ino and I are going out to eat in the village. You guys can come with us if you want."

Still no reply.

"Okay, whatever's your choice," I started walking back towards our room. "But we should be back by nine or so."

I left the hotel with Ino and Angel and we settled at a Teahouse.

"So," Ino slid a dumpling off her stick and eyed me.

"So?" I raised an eyebrow.

"Never mind," she shook her head after a period of silence.

_That was weird,_ Angel barked.

"No kidding," I muttered.

"Maddie?!" a voice cried. "Is that you?!"

I turned and saw Temari grinning at me. I got up, hugged her, and invited her to sit with Angel, Ino and me. We explained why we were at the Sand Village and then discussed what's been going on.

"So, when do you guys leave?" Temari bit off a dumpling.

"I'm not sure," I sipped my green tea. "Probably in a couple of days, at least that's what Shikamaru said."

"But if it's an escorting mission, don't you think we would try to move along?" Ino objected.

"True," I agreed. "We did get here in just five days. Isn't it like a week's travel to the Leaf Village from here?"

Temari nodded, "Yeah, you guys did get here a little early, but not much. I wonder why you guys aren't hurrying."

"Maybe…" Ino muttered.

Temari and I turned to look at her, but she shook her head. I decided that maybe she had snuck some alcohol into her drink and now she was starting to lose it. I doubt that she had done that, but with Ino, you never know. I wrapped up my conversation with Temari and I dragged Ino out of the restaurant.

"Hey! I wasn't done with my food yet!" she cried.

"You can buy the same stuff tomorrow," I growled. "C'mon, let's go back to the hotel."

"What's your problem, lately?" Ino yanked her arm free from my iron grip.

"I don't have a problem," I replied, starting to walk away from her.

"Well, you sure act like you have one!"

"Well, I don't."

Ino muttered something about me being a stupid, stubborn tomboy before trailing behind me back to the hotel.

I slid in the room key and the door unlocked. Before I could open it, the door opened next to us and Hayate poked his head out.

"Hey! You guys are back!" he cried. "Shikamaru! Madeline and her dog and Ino are back!"

"Why do you look so happy to see us?" Ino asked.

Suddenly, Shikamaru was at the door, looking like he was going to explode with anger.

"Where have you three been?!" he yelled like he had yelled when I was sitting on the window ledge when I should have been resting.

"Out," I shrugged.

"Out where?!"

"Out to eat at a restaurant. God, why do you act so surprised? I personally came over to your guys' room to tell you that before we left."

"No you didn't," Hayate raised an eyebrow.

"Well I did," I replied.

Chouji elbowed Hayate and he nodded. Shikamaru's face softened in something he had just realized and he retreated back into his room. I looked at Chouji, who shrugged and he too headed back into the room, followed by Hayate.

"What the hell was that about?" I muttered as we walked back into our room.

Ino glared at me, changed into a very thin nightshirt and a pair of short shorts, and went to bed. I raised an eyebrow, changed into my PJ's, and crawled into the bed.

"Man, what's everyone's problem lately?" I asked Angel, pulling the down comforter up to my chin.

_Maybe it's the heat_, she growled, crawling onto the bed. _Or the goddamn sand that keeps flying in our faces._

"No, I don't think it's that," I whispered. "It's…something else."

My dog rested her head on my lap, _Like what?_

"I'm not sure, but I think something happened. Did you see how mad Shikamaru was? He never gets like that unless he's really worried about something."

_What could've made him worry like that?_

"I don't know, but I think we're going to find out soon."

Angel got off the bed, trotted over to the couch, made herself comfortable, and fell asleep.

"How far is the Grass Village from here?" I asked, peeling my banana.

"If we keep up the pace we're moving at, than about four days," Neji replied.

We had arrived at the Sand Village in the early morning, and were planning on heading out the next day.

"Hey, wasn't Madeline and her team just here about a day or two ago?" Ten-Ten bit into her rice ball.

I nodded, "That's what Temari told us, but she told me there was something strange about the guy they were escorting."

"Like what?" Lee slurped his ramen.

"I dunno, he kinda gave her a scared and worried look before they set off…"

"Can we please stop Shikamaru?" Ino whined. "My feet hurt and I'm tired."

Shikamaru glanced at us and I shrugged. I certainly wouldn't mind giving my feet a rest.

"Alright," he sighed. "We'll just set up camp here. It's getting dark anyway."

Finding materials was no problem, compared to the last couple of nights in the desert. We were nearing the Hidden Grass Village, so we were moving back into the trees.

We built the fire, ate dinner, and Shikamaru asked Hayate how much further the Hidden Star Village was.

"Not much," he replied. "Once we pass through the Hidden Grass Village, we should get there in a couple of days."

I racked my brain to try to remember the geography of the Naruto world. Then, I remembered the map I had packed, but I didn't want to take it out, so I had my somewhat photographic memory (Yes, I do have a photographic memory, it's how I study for tests and exams) finally pull a fragment of the map from my head.

_No, I don't think the Hidden Star Village is anywhere near the Hidden Grass Village, _I thought, my eyebrows knitting together.

"Madeline, what's wrong?" Ino asked.

"Huh?" I looked up to see everyone staring at me.

"Whatcha thinking about?" Chouji pressed on.

"I…" I paused for a long time before going on. "I don't think the Hidden Star Village is anywhere near the Hidden Grass Village. I'm pretty sure it would take almost a week to get there the pace we're traveling at."

Everyone turned to look at Hayate.

"I…I meant…I meant if we hurried," he stuttered, obviously embarrassed. "I just want to get home so I can see my family again."

Ino and Chouji nodded, Shikamaru looked hard at him before nodding too, and I shrugged, but Angel growled. I ignored her and sat by the fire, watching everyone fall asleep. I probably sat there for about an hour, when I heard some rustling. I immediately turned my head, already standing up. After nothing had emerged for what seemed like forever, I sat back down.

As I was gazing at the fire, I was suddenly grabbed by the waist. I tried to yell, but someone had cupped their hand around my mouth and was slapping duct tape over it. They had my wrists bound behind my back and blindfolded me, so I see or couldn't punch the dude. Instead, I wriggled and kicked as hard as I could as I felt them fling me over their shoulder sack-o-potato style. I flailed my legs in every possible direction, but failed hopelessly and knew I was being carried further and further away from our campsite.

"How far is the next town, Neji?" Ten-Ten asked.

"We still have a long way to go," was his reply.

"Can't we just find these stinking ninja and get…this…over……with…" I trailed off and stared at the trees that we were passing as we jumped from branch to branch.

"It's not that easy, Lilian," Neji said. "For one thing…what the hell are you looking at?"

I didn't answer him and continued to stare at the clearings in-between the tree trunks. I could have sworn I had just seen a ninja carrying a girl that looked almost exactly like Madeline. The problem was, when I took a double take, he was already gone.

"Oh, it's nothing," I shook my head. "I just thought I saw a spider on me, that's all."

I felt myself be dropped roughly to the ground and the blindfold was swiftly removed from my eyes. A hand then ripped the duct tape off my face, leaving me to deal with my nerves screaming in pain.

"OW!! Fuck!!" I yelled.

I heard men laughing and looked up, my lips still burning. I was either sitting on the dirt floor of a cave lit by torches, or a really dark prison lit by torches. Either way, I was still surrounded by about three ninja on each side, counting up to a total of six. A seventh man in a robe and carrying a samurai sword stepped forward in front of me.

"There's no use in screaming, little girl," he sneered. "No one can hear you down here."

_So that means I must be in some underground tunnel,_ I concluded.

"What the hell do you want with me?" I demanded, ignoring him comment.

"I'm glad you asked," he smirked. "The name's Harutomo, and I'm the head of the Toga clan of the Hidden Grass Village. I suspect you already know of us."

"Hell no! The only thing I know is that you bastards kidnapped me for no goddamn reason!"

A few men chuckled at what I had said, while others just glared at me.

"Oh you're a tough one to crack," Harutomo smirked again. "Now, why don't you stop playing dumb and tell me what you really know?"

"Well, I know a lot of things. Can you be more specific?"

More men laughed and I could tell Harutomo was starting to get ticked off. I realized that none of the ninja were behind me, just on my sides and in front of me. I also noted that my hands were still tied together behind my back.

"Looks like we have a smartass here," he touched the hilt of his sword. "You know what I'm talking about. How could you possibly know where the Hidden Grass and Star Villages are and how far apart they are from each other?"

"I just know," I started to slowly open my weapon pouch. "I'm not stupid. I've studied geography maps before."

"How did you get a map with all the villages mapped out?" one of the ninja demanded.

"I dunno," I shrugged, starting to discreetly cut the rope. "I just got a hold of them. Why do you all look so surprised?"

"No one is supposed to know where the Hidden Villages are unless they live in one of them!" another ninja cried. "That's why they're called the _Hidden _Villages!"

"Well SAR-E that I know something that you douche bags don't," I growled. "It's not my fault you are all retards."

Harutomo nodded to one of the men. The guy nodded back, pulled out a short blade, and started stepping towards me. By then, I had finished cutting the rope, but I remained where I sat, pretending to still be tied up. Just a little closer…a little closer…bingo.

The ninja brought down his blade and I whipped out my kunai to block it. I hurriedly gathered chakra into my left fist and nailed him in the face. He flew into the dirt wall and Harutomo cried for his men to get me. They all let out a battle cry and charged.

I made some hand seals, put my hands to the ground, and Earth Style: Earth Spheres Jutsu was performed. Multiple rocks rose from the ground and hurled towards the charging ninja. Three out of the six (not counting Harutomo), got crushed, while the others still ran at me. One got close enough and tried to grab me, but I jumped out of the way and kicked him where the sun don't shine. He clutched his groin and fell to the ground, rolling around in pain. The other two ignored their comrade and ran at me from both sides. I waited until they were close enough, and then I jumped out of the way, so they both head-butted and knocked each other out.

I looked around for Harutomo, but he had disappeared. Shrugging, I made my way around the bodies and fallen boulders, but was suddenly grabbed and held up against someone's chest.

"Missed me?" it was Harutomo, holding his blade against my neck. "Defeating us isn't as easy as you think it is, little girl."

"I'm glad to hear that," I replied, secretly maneuvering my kunai so that it was aimed at his thigh, where a main artery was located. "I've been looking for a challenge."

"Try to attack me fool, and you die," he pressed the blade a little more forcefully into my neck, just barely breaking the skin.

I gritted my teeth and dropped the knife to the floor.

"Good girl," Harutomo whispered evilly. "Now, why don't I take that weapon pouch for you?"

"Touch anywhere near my ass, and you'll be dead before you realize it," I growled when I saw him reach for my weapon pouch.

"And just what are you going to do about it?"

"This."

I had started to discretely gather chakra into my right fist. I turned around and punched him in the face, releasing the chakra when my fist made contact with his face. Harutomo flew into the wall and groaned. I looked for a way out and just started to jog to the left, the torches lighting my way.

After about five minutes, I finally came to a dead end. There weren't any doors, windows, or trapdoors. That's when I looked up and squinted. There was something…strange about the dirt ceiling. I grabbed one of the torches and held it up to the ceiling. I was right. There was a large square engraved in the dirt with a metal hand attached to it.

I grabbed the handle and slowly pulled it, so that it slid open. I shielded my eyes as bright sunlight blasted in my face. Once my eyes had adjusted, I climbed out of the tunnel and pushed a shrine that was the top back in place. After I had done that, I checked my surroundings. I was in the middle of some bushes and a nice Japanese house could be seen from my view. I was about to get down on my hands and knees, when a hand seized me by the shoulder and roughly turned me around.

I stared right into the eyes of about thirty ninja, all who surrounded and were glaring at me.

"Shit," I muttered.

"Hey, isn't that Shikamaru?" Lee asked as we jumped from tree to tree.

I squinted and realized he was right. Sure enough, there was Shikamaru and his team running on the ground just a little ahead of us.

"Come on, let's catch up with them," Neji gained a little speed. "Shikamaru!"

The ridiculously lazy but smart ninja turned, a worried look on his face. The entire team stopped and waited for us to jump down from the trees onto the ground.

"Hey," he greeted. "What's up?"

"Just on a mission," Neji replied. "But may I ask, why are you guys near the Hidden Grass Village? I thought that you were heading towards the Hidden Star Village."

"And where's Madeline?" I added. "I saw her take off with you guys before you left the village."

Shikamaru's face turned grim and he looked at me.

"Madeline…was kidnapped by some goons from the Hidden Grass Village," he explained. "Here, you can read the note they left."

He handed me a scrap piece of paper and I skimmed the sloppy writing.

We have taken the girl hostage because she knows too much of your mission. Bring us the man, Hayate, and we'll return her to you. Meet us at the Earth Gate at 12:00 pm exactly in 72 hours, or we'll kill the girl.

The Toga Clan

"What the hell?" I said when I was done reading. "What do they mean by 'she knows too much of your mission?'"

"They're probably referring to what she had said last night," Shikamaru replied. "She said that she didn't think that the Hidden Star and Grass Villages were close together because, Hayate, that guy over there, said that it should take only a day to get there once we reached the Grass Village."

I looked the guy up and down. He was dressed in a ragged pair of shorts and tank top and was carrying a small backpack. He looked to be in his mid-twenties.

"Well, why do they want him?" Ten-Ten asked.

"Good question," Shikamaru turned to the man. "Why are they after you?"

"I didn't want you to find out, but…" Hayate looked down at his feet.

"You said that we only had to protect you from bandits!" Ino cried. "You didn't tell us that you were being hunted!"

"I just needed a strong team like you guys for protection against those people," he muttered. "But I guess it didn't really help. You see, I'm from the Fujiwara clan, and we had inherited the Toga's land when one of our children married their children. The Toga didn't seem to mind splitting the land at the time, but after two generations, they decided that they wanted their land back.

"At first, they approached us with a peaceful contract, stating that they get two thirds of it and us one third. But my father, the head of our clan, refused and said that that was unfair. Harutomo Toga then declared war between the two clans and we've been fighting ever since."

There was a moment of silence that gave my brain a chance to realize what was going on.

"That's our mission!" I cried. "We have to rescue captives from the Fujiwara that the Toga are taking and return them to their homes."

"We could certainly use the help," Hayate nodded. "What they really want his me, though. I'm the next in line to be the head of our clan, so I think they'll either negotiate with me or take me as hostage and demand their land back from my father."

"Either way, they're gonna have to get what they want," Shikamaru turned his back and stared at the endless amount of trees. "We need to rescue Madeline. The only problem is, the guy who kidnapped her threw down a smoke bomb and covered our fire with leafy branches so it would release smoke. Because of this, Angel can't pick up their scents."

"Don't you have anything that might have her scent?" Ten-Ten asked.

Shikamaru patted his pockets and then set down his backpack. He rummaged in there for a good while before finally smiling and pulling something out.

"This should be enough," he held up a long thin brush. "It's her watercolor brush. It must've dropped from her pouch, because I found it on the ground when we woke up."

Angel sniffed the brush a couple of times and then the ground. Suddenly, she started to wag her tail excitedly. The wolf-looking dog barked and bounded in the direction we had been traveling in.

"She's got the scent! Come on!" Shikamaru shouted.

I was shoved to tatami-mat covered floor and was then forced to look up. Harutomo was sitting on a cushion in front of me, sipping a cup of tea. To his right stood a young boy about the age of fourteen or fifteen wearing a blue gi and tan pants. His brown hair grew just below his ears and he wore a pair of blue arm sleeves. About twenty ninja surrounded me.

"So, we meet again, little girl," I noticed Harutomo had a bandage covering his cheek where I had punched him. "This time, you won't get away so easily."

"I didn't even get away!" I protested. "Those assholes kidnapped me before I could even escape!"

Some of the ninja chuckled, including the boy. A vein started to throb ominously on the side of Harutomo's head.

"Silence!" he cried. "I have had enough with your smartass mouth! I will not be made a fool off in front of my own people!!"

"Well hey, just don't burst a blood vessel in the process," I replied, trying not to smile.

"That's it!!" Harutomo leapt from his seat and glared down at me. "You will work at the gold mines during the day and will be locked up in a jail cell at night!! Is that clear to you?!"

I shrugged, "I dunno."

The boy shook his head, telling me not to push Harutomo any further.

"Take her away," he growled. "If her friends don't rescue her in three days, kill her."

"Huh?" I looked at him weirdly as I was dragged away. "What do you mean by that?"

But he didn't answer, and I was escorted roughly to a prison on the other side of the building. I was shoved into a cold and damp cell that smelled like mold. While I was still regaining my bearings from the fall, I felt a prick at my arm. I looked down, and realized it was a dart. I immediately got up and ran at the four guards, but suddenly felt lightheaded and stumbled. They laughed, which pissed me off, and I tried getting up again, but fell to the cold floor. I couldn't even lift my arms, dammit!

I lay there, numb, and felt two of the guards picked me up and hang me from the ceiling by a chain. They attached shackles to my wrists and I wearily watched them leave and lock the door behind them.

_This is going to be one helluva night_, I thought.

I opened my eyes and realized I was still in the jail cell. Faint moonlight streamed in through the bared window and a cool breeze floated in. I shifted slightly and found out that I could move again.

"If you try escaping, you might as well as try now," a voice said.

I looked up and saw a shadowed figure leaning against a stone wall in front of the bars of my cell.

"Who the hell are you?" I spat.

"Calm down," he whispered harshly. "Do you want the guards hearing you?"

"You still haven't answered my question."

The figure unlocked the door and stepped into the moonlight.

"You're the guy from before," I gasped. "Next to Harutomo."

He nodded, "I'm Ashitaka Toga, the son of Harutomo. Forgive my father for the way he has treated you."

"Eh, it's okay," I tried to shrug but failed miserably.

"No, it's not," Ashitaka shook his head. "You shouldn't have been dragged into our family's business."

I remained silent before finally saying, "So should I start escaping now?"

"It would be a good idea," he shrugged.

"But I don't have any…" an idea suddenly struck me. "Wait a minute."

I looked down at my feet and slid out a miniature kunai from my left sandal with my right foot. I then lifted my left foot to my mouth and snatched it up in my lips. Holding the knife between my teeth, I used whatever poor upper body strength I had to lift myself up and started to saw at the chains. Only after about twenty seconds, I had to sink back down and hang. Determined, I gave a burst of chakra and continued the process for another half a minute. Even though training in the Naruto world had gotten me a bit more physically fit, I was still weak in the upper body area.

_This is getting me nowhere_, I thought breathlessly. _There has to be another way to get myself free…wait, why doesn't what's-his-face help me get outta here?_

I dropped the kunai from my mouth and it clattered to the floor. Ashitaka hid in the shadows and froze, probably hiding just in case any of the guards came. They didn't, however, and he walked over to my knife and placed it back into my sandal at my question. He then sighed and leaned against the stone wall, arms crossed over chest.

"I'm sorry, but I can't help you," he said. "My father gave me strict orders not to come near you until the three days were up. If I did, I would be killed."

"You're father wouldn't do that to you!" I cried.

"Yeah, he would," Ashitaka said softly. "He's the leader of the clan. He can do whatever he wants."

"Well, screw your father then! If that's what he thinks, then you should take a stand for yourself!"

"You don't know how my father is," he whispered. "You can't just make a decision by yourself."

"Well, maybe you should change that then," I replied, focusing my attention back to the shackles.

Ashitaka watched me struggle for a while and shook his head when I stopped to rest my arms.

"There's no use in trying to escape," he said. "I don't have the key, only my father and his most trusted guard do. Besides, you should save your energy for tomorrow's mining."

"What right does he have to make me work, anyway?" I asked angrily. "Does the village even allow that?"

"We're technically not part of the village so he can do whatever he pleases."

I fell silent, knowing that he was right.

"And when I'm supposed to get outta here, again?" I sighed at last.

"My father gave your friends three days, but I'm sure they'll get here before that."

I thought of Shikamaru, and imagined how worried he must be. I thought of Angel, and imagined how pissed off she would be to find me kidnapped.

"Yeah, I'm sure they will."

"Get up, little girl!!" a man's voice screamed in my ear. "Rise n' shine!!"

I opened my eyes and wearily looked at a guard in the face. He unlocked the shackles and I fell to the cold stone floor.

"Get moving," he pushed me up and shoved me out of the jail cell.

I was then led to what seemed like a changing room. The guard patted my sides and hips for any weapons, and before I could protest, shoved me into the room.

"Get dressed," the guard threw a ragged pair of shorts and a tank-top at me.

"I think I'll pass," I said nastily, throwing him back the clothes.

"If you don't put these on, I will for you," he replied, smirking.

I stared at him and resisted the urge to sock him in the face right then and there. Instead, I snatched the clothes and slammed the door in his face. I sighed and looked at myself in the mirror. My hair was ratty and my wrists were chafing from the rope and shackles that had been tied around them. I got dressed in the baggy clothes, but kept my sandals, leather straps, and gloves on and joined the guard. He took my ball of clothes out of my hands and led me outside.

We probably walked for about a mile before coming to two entrances of a mine. Workers dressed in clothing similar to what I was given walked in and out of the mine, either carrying loads of rock or pushing carts. Guards stood on the sides, whipping anyone who was going too slowly.

The guard shoved me to the feet of another ninja that was in front of one of the entrances.

"She's your problem now," he growled and left.

"Are you alright?" the ninja helped me up.

"Yeah, I'm fine," I groaned. "Goddamn, you'd think that men would give us girls more respect around here. I'm not a piece of meat ya know."

"That's just how some men are. But don't worry, I'm not like that."

I recognized the voice and peered at the ninja, "Ashitaka? Is that you?"

He nodded and pulled down his red mask that was covering his nose and mouth to show his face, "I'm going to make sure that they won't hurt you until your friends arrive. If they do, we can turn them over to the Grass Village authorities for violating their promise."

"Really? I thought your father had a right to do whatever he pleases."

"That doesn't mean we can inform them about what's going on. Ninja just love to get their noses into other people's problems."

"Oh…that makes s-Hey!"

Ashitaka smiled and put his mask back on, "Come on. Let's get you to work before anyone gets suspicious."

"How much time do we have left?" I shouted behind me at Shikamaru.

"About a day and a half," he replied. "Neji! How much further do we have to go?"

I looked behind me and saw him activate his Byakugun.

"About ten more kilometers," he replied. "Which is about five more miles."

I sighed. If there was anything I was bad at, it was running. We had to stop every other mile to give me, Hayate, and Ino a chance to rest our exhausted legs.

"Shikamaru, can we please walk for a couple of miles?" Ino pleaded.

The lazy ninja stopped running, making us all stop. He looked over his shoulder at us, his eyes filled with worry.

"You guys can walk until dusk if you want to," he said. "But Angel and I will go on ahead."

"Let's not get too out of hand, Shikamaru," Neji said. "Remember, they're only after Hayate. If you get to the bridge without him, they'll dispose of Maddie. We need to think of another plan."

"Actually, his plan isn't too bad," Chouji remarked. "He and Angel can scout a campsite area ahead of us about a half a mile away from the bridge. That way, we can wake up and be at the bridge on time."

There was silence as we all analyzed that the plan was actually pretty clever.

"Not bad, buddy," Shikamaru smiled, slapping Chouji on the back. "All right, does that make sense to everyone?"

We all nodded and Shikamaru smiled.

"All right, Angel and I will take off while you guys go at whatever pace is easiest for you. However, make sure to be at the campsite by night. Neji, you'll be able to find it with your Byakugun. See ya guys later."

He waved and they took off into the trees.

"Okay, how about we walk eight miles and run the mile and a half?" Ino suggested.

I shrugged, "Sounds fine to me."

Everyone else agreed and we were off.

(Note: The next section is going to be with Shikamaru and Angel told in third person.)

Angel sniffed, barked, and jumped down from the tree branches. Shikamaru followed her, and they appeared in the middle of a clearing. Multiple tree trunks lay fallen around the area along with clusters of giant boulders.

"This is the perfect camping spot," Shikamaru smiled. "Any enemies around?"

Angel put her nose to the ground and walked around, sniffing. After about a few minutes, she stopped and shook her head.

"Alright, and we're about half a mile away from the bridge. Good."

The wolf-looking dog suddenly sniffed the air and barked.

"What's wrong, Angel?" Shikamaru looked at her.

She growled and pointed her nose towards the sky, making Shikamaru look up and curse to himself. Multiple gray clouds had merged together to make the sky a slate color and the air reeked with the smell of rain.

"Damn," he muttered. "We need to make some shelters before it rains."

He created about twenty shadows clones and instructed them to start to lift the fallen tree trunks over to the sides of the boulders. While he was doing this, Angel broke off leafy branches from nearby trees. She also carried over some bushes in her jaws. Soon, Shikamaru, his clones, and Angel were standing on top of the clusters of boulders, putting the branches and bushes on top to make a roof. Next, they placed the tree trunks in the middle of spaces of the boulders to make walls. Once everything was in place, Shikamaru fastened it all in place with metal wire and staked it in to the ground with kunai.

"There," Shikamaru sighed. "Now we have three shelters for when it rains. One for me, Chouji, Neji, Lee, and Hayate, and the other for you, Maddie, Lilian, Ten-Ten, and Ino. The last one can be for emergency uses, like if someone is hurt and they need to heal."

Angel barked.

_Should we make some fire pits too?_

Shikamaru cocked an eyebrow. Growling in impatience, the wolf-like dog found some twigs, carried them over to one of the shelters with her mouth, and breathed out flames on them. Shikamaru's eyes immediately lit up when a fire sprang to life.

"Good idea, Angel," he ruffled the fur on top of her head. "You'll gather the twigs while I gather the timber and kindling. Sound like a plan?"

Angel wagged her tail and about fifteen minutes later, the two were setting up the fire pits.

"Alright, so now we just have to wait for the others," Shikamaru sighed. "But they wouldn't be here in a couple more hours or so. I wish we could just go and try to rescue Madeline now instead of waiting until tomorrow. But we can't be at two places…at…once…"

He trailed off and suddenly created two shadow clones of himself and then made one transform to look like Angel.

"Angel," he looked at her. "Can you pick up Maddie's scent?"

The dog whimpered.

_I thought we were supposed to rescue her tomorrow._

"Don't worry about the others," Shikamaru pointed to the clone that looked like Angel. "If they get here while we're gone, these clones will meet up with them."

Angel lowered her eyes to the ground and whimpered again.

_But…_

"Please," Shikamaru put his hand on her head.

With a sigh, Angel reluctantly put her nose to the ground, found the scent, and they took off into the trees.

"C'mon! Put you backs into it, maggots!!" a soldier screamed into my ear.

I growled and pounded the rock wall with my sickle. A cluster of rocks and pebbles fell to the dirt floor and joined a giant pile of rocks.

"Alright, that's enough," Ashitaka told me. "Now fill up the wagon, empty it over at machinery, and then bring the empty wagon back to your working station."

"Yeah, yeah, I know the damn drill," I growled, starting to chuck rocks into the wooden wagon.

"Hey! You don't talk to your officer like that!" a nearby soldier got out his whip.

"It's fine," Ashitaka held up his hand in front of the man. "I actually find her attitude quite entertaining."

The soldier growled and went back to his post, but I felt his stare as I dragged the wagon out of the dim and damp mine. After lugging the load for about a couple of football fields, I came to a building where I emptied all of the contents onto a conveyor belt. I didn't see where the rocks went, because they all went through a tunnel after I put them on the belt.

Sighing, I left the building and dragged the wagon all the way back to the mine. I finally returned to my place and groaned.

_There has to be an easier way to dig these walls,_ I thought. _Maybe if I used…_

I made multiple hand signs and gathered chakra into my fingertips. I smiled as white claws of chakra formed.

"Hey! What the hell do you think you're doing?!" a soldier shouted.

I ignored him and smashed my hands into the wall. Dust and rocks flew everywhere, and after about half a minute, I stopped. At my feet was about the same amount of rocks I would have dug for in fifteen minutes with a sickle.

"Hey!! You can't do that!!" the soldier marched over to me.

"Why not?" Ashitaka asked calmly. "What's the difference? As long as the work gets done, there shouldn't be a problem."

The man gave Harutomo's son a long glare before returning to his post, which was only a few yards away from mine. I gathered the rocks into the wagon, brought them to the building, and started to dig again. I repeated the process for another half hour before sighed in exhaustion.

"How much longer?" I asked Ashitaka.

"About another hour or two," he replied. "But we may have to cut it short. It looks like it's about to rain."

I agreed with him on the last part. When I had gone outside, the sky was gray and I could easily pick up the smell of moisture in the air.

"What are you talking about?!" the same soldier from before marched over to us. "They will keep working until the bell rings!!"

"But they can't work in the rain! They could get sick and then who would work the mines?"

"They would, of course."

"You can't do that to them! They'd be too weak to work!!"

"You know, I'm starting to get really tired of how you're constantly defending these slaves," the soldier grabbed the hilt of his whip. "You shouldn't be even talking to them. They mean nothing to us. If one dies, we just replace them with another. No big deal."

"It is a big deal!!" Ashitaka started to raise his voice. "You can't just treat them like dirt!"

"Oh can't I?"

The soldier motioned with his head for two soldiers to get over to the area. Before I could say or do anything, they came up from behind me and grabbed my arms. I started to protest, but they slammed the front of me into the dirt wall.

"What the hell do you think you're doing?!" Ashitaka cried as one of the men lifted up the backside of my tank-top, exposing my flat and tan back.

"Just giving you a demonstration on how you really treat a slave," I heard the soldier growl.

"LET ME GO!!" I screamed.

I struggled to wriggle my arms out of the soldiers' grasp, but they were too strong.

"Not a chance, little girl," by his tone I could tell that he was smirking.

"Shut the fuck up!! Don't ever call me that!!"

A sudden, sharp, hot-burning of pain sliced across my back, making a cracking noise echo through the whole tunnel. I felt like screaming, but I knew that would just bring joy to the soldier, so I just groaned, gritted my teeth, and clenched my fists.

"STOP!!" Ashitaka shouted. "You don't know what you're doing!!"

"Oh I know perfectly well what I'm doing," the soldier replied calmly, whipping me again. "Why don't you give it a try?"

I started to breathe heavily and my back burned like it was on fire.

"No!!" Ashitaka cried. "I will not!"

As the soldier's reply, he whipped me for the third time, earning a small whimper from me.

"STOP IT!!"

"You seem oddly familiar," I heard the soldier say. "Have you worked here before?"

"Yes, I have," Ashitaka replied.

"No I don't think you have…"

I turned my head slightly to see the man rip off Ashitaka's mask, exposing his face.

"Prince Ashitaka!" all of the soldiers gasped. "What are you doing here?"

"Seeing just how cruel you've been to these people," Ashitaka grabbed my arm and tore me away from the soldiers' grasp. "Especially this young lady."

"Wait, I thought you weren't supposed to go near her," the soldier looked at him suspiciously.

"He isn't!" one soldier piped up. "I heard Harutomo tell him himself!"

The bell rang and the soldier smirked at Ashitaka, "Well then, why don't we tell Harutomo what has happened today?"

"It's starting to rain," Neji said as we reached the clearing where the campsite was. "Looks like we made it just in time."

We spotted Shikamaru and Angel each lying in a weird looking shelter. They were basically just clusters of boulders with branches, bushes, and leaves on the top and tree trunks placed in the sides tied with wire and secured to the ground with kunai.

"Wow, you guys built all this before we got here?" Ino asked the two.

Shikamaru nodded, "Get in before we all get sick. Girls in one, boys in the other."

Ino, Ten-Ten, and I rushed into a shelter, followed by Angel.

Well, I had to hand it to Shikamaru and Angel, the shelters might not look that good, but they certainly kept you dry. Not to mention that there was a fire pit in the middle and a bush door that could be pulled over the 'door' to keep the rain out.

I performed a simple fire jutsu, and a nice fire was soon blazing in front of us.

"So, where exactly is this-" I didn't get to finish because I was cut off by Neji's voice.

"Lilian! Ten-Ten! Get out here, quickly!"

The three of us looked at each other and ran out of the shelter into the drizzling rain.

"What is it?" I asked.

"Shikamaru and Angel aren't here!" Chouji cried.

I stared at him, "What the hell are you talking about? They're right there!"

"No, those are clones," Neji replied. "I just happened to check his chakra level when scouting the area and it's way less than Shikamaru's. It's the same with Angel."

We all turned to look at Shikamaru and Angel. They both grinned awkwardly and disappeared into a puff of smoke.

"Great, so what do we do now?" Ino sighed.

"Shikamaru must've gone on ahead to try to retrieve Madeline early," Neji muttered. "There's no telling where he is now."

"Why don't you just use your Byakugun?" I asked.

"It's not worth it," he shook his head. "Shikamaru will just go on ahead. If he isn't back by morning though, then we'll go out and look for him."

Everyone nodded and we retreated back to our separate shelters.

(Note: A short point of view in third person for Shikamaru and Angel is next!)

"Damn it," Shikamaru muttered. "It's starting to rain."

Angel suddenly stopped and landed on a tree branch, followed by Shikamaru.

"What is it?" he asked.

She pointed her snout in the front of them and whimpered. He followed her nose and saw that she was looking at a giant Japanese-style house surrounded by several smaller houses. A giant wooden gate guarded by soldiers circled the entire area.

"Looks like a clan's neighborhood," Shikamaru said. "Most likely the Toga's."

Angel growled and got ready to jump off the branch.

_Let's go kick some ass then._

"Wait," Shikamaru held up an arm in front of her. "If we attack directly, especially in the dark while it's raining, we'll be immediately found out…Wait, you can use that same jutsu as Maddie, right? What's it called…uh…oh yeah, Claw Dig Jutsu?"

Angel nodded, jumped to the ground, and performed the earth style jutsu. She tunneled her way underground, checking occasionally behind her to make sure Shikamaru was following. She stopped, sniffed, and then dug up. The two emerged to the earth's surface and gasped for oxygen.

"Okay, Angel," Shikamaru wiped some dirt and rain off his face. "How close are we to Maddie now?"

The dog motioned with her head behind them. Shikamaru turned and realized that they were behind a giant stone building that was connected to the main household.

"Man, there aren't any doors that lead directly to the building," Shikamaru groaned. "And it's not a very good idea to go in through the house."

Angel growled and Shikamaru followed her gaze. About ten yards from the building was a side door, guarded by only two soldiers.

"Now we just have to figure out how to get past those guys," Shikamaru muttered. "Wait…I have an idea."

He grabbed a rock and chucked it at the feet of one of the soldiers. The man immediately called out a warning, but when nobody showed up, he ran off to look for the 'person' while his buddy stayed behind. Shikamaru then crept up behind the guard and hit him in the back of the neck, knocking him unconscious.

"All right, now while I get Maddie out of here, you stay close to the door to see if anyone else comes," Shikamaru instructed as he found the keys to the house.

Angel nodded and they entered the building.

After the soldiers had a little chat with Harutomo, they locked me back up in my cell, hanging from the ceiling by shackles. Harutomo was pissed off when he was told that Ashitaka was 'near' me, so he locked him up in a cell one floor above mine. We talked for bit, but some guards told us to shut up, so we did.

I closed my eyes, trying to fall asleep. I could hear the pouring rain that pelted the ground outside and the roar of thunder. I ignored it and I think I dozed off for a bit before the sound of the metal door being swung open woke me up. My eyes snapped open and I managed to hear someone whispering in a hushed tone. In the dim torch light, I spotted the person's shadow looming closer and closer to my cell.

_Please don't be a guard, _I thought, closing my eyes as my bared cell door slid open. _Oh, please God, have it be anyone but a guard._

I felt the stranger touch my arm, which made me cringe and turn my head away.

"Maddie," I froze when I heard the voice. "Don't worry, it's only me."

They gently grabbed my arm and I instantly recognized the touch. I slowly opened my eyes and looked down at the person I would never expect would be there at that very moment.

"Shikamaru…" I whispered. "Why are you…?"

"Shhh…" he put a finger to his lips. "Stay quiet. We need to get you outta here."

"Uh…we?"

"Angel's on lookout at the door and the others are at our campsite. Now hush."

As Shikamaru was unlocking the shackles around my wrists, I noticed that his dark brown hair was shining in the torchlight. I peered closer and realized he was soaking wet. Had he and Angel traveled through the storm just to get here and rescue me?

"Ow, damn, be careful," I clutched my back as Shikamaru helped me down to the stone floor.

"What happened?" he asked.

"Nothing," I muttered. "I'll tell you later. Come on, let's get outta here."

Shikamaru looked at me for a long time before nodding and creating a clone of himself. He then transformed it to look like me, attached it to the shackles, and led me out of the cell.

"Wait, we need to get someone out of a cell," I said, grabbing his arm. "He needs our help."

Shikamaru handed the keys over to me and followed me to the second floor of the dungeon. I found Ashitaka's cell, unlocked, and stepped inside.

Ashitaka was sitting in a corner of the cell, bags under his eyes. His right leg was chained to the wall, and his right wrist chained to that chain. He wearily looked up as I walked over to him.

"Maddie," he rasped. "What are you doing here? How did you get out?"

"My friend helped save me," I replied quietly. "That's him over there, his name is Shikamaru. Now be quiet, we're going to get you outta here."

Ashitaka smiled a tired smile and shook his head.

"It's not worth it," he said. "They're just going to chase after us once they realize we're gone."

"No one's going to realize you guys are gone," Shikamaru said. "Because they'll see that both of you are still in your cells."

I turned around to look at him and saw that he had made another shadow clone of himself and then transformed it to make it look like Ashitaka. I unlocked his shackles and pulled him to his feet.

"Ashitaka!" I cried when he fell back down to the floor. "Are you okay?!"

"I'm fine," he mumbled. "My back is just a little sore."

"How many times did they whip you?"

"Not they…my father."

"Wait, you mean to tell me that these people whipped you?!" Shikamaru turned me around to look into his eyes.

I lowered my eyes to the ground and remained silent.

"Do you realize how serious this is?!" he continued. "We need to get you two out of here. Now."

Shikamaru and I put Ashitaka's arms over our shoulders and helped him out of the cell.

"Do you have any idea where the guard might have put my clothes and weapons?" I asked Ashitaka as we left the dungeon.

"In the storage room," he replied. "But it's guarded. You'll have to take the soldier out."

Shikamaru nodded and instructed Angel, whom we had just met up with, to find the storage room. We followed her for about ten minutes before she finally found the door, and sure enough, there was a soldier by the wooden door. She growled to me.

_I have an idea to distract him. When his back is turned, knock him out._

I nodded and watched as she turned into her original, short-haired bishon frise form. Angel then trotted over to the soldier and wagged her tail. I heard the man say what a cute dog she was and bent down to pet her, his back turned to us. Angel then barked.

_Now!_

I had Shikamaru hand me a kunai before I silently ran at the soldier. However, I had to gather chakra into my feet and jump onto the ceiling when the man turned around. Angel whimpered to gain his attention back and I hit him in the back of the neck, knocking him out. I landed back to the floor on all fours and waited for Shikamaru and Ashitaka catch up.

"How did you…?" Ashitaka pointed to the ceiling.

"We're ninja," I shrugged. "It's what we learn to do."

I handed Shikamaru back his kunai as he unlocked the storage room and opened the door. I walked in and immediately found my clothes and weapons. I closed the door, hurriedly changed, and joined the others back out in the hallway.

"You got everything?" Shikamaru asked.

"I'm pretty sure," I replied, checking my weapon pouch. "My iPod and scrolls and stuff is all here…wait, my map is missing."

"What map?" Ashitaka asked.

"My geographical map with all the hidden villages located on it!" I cried. "If these people get their hands on it, then they could launch an attack on all of the villages without warning! We have to get it back!"

"Alright, Madeline, calm down," Shikamaru said. "We'll get it back, don't worry. When we 'give' them Hayate, I'll have a team get over here and retrieve it. For now, let's get back to the campsite so you two can rest."

I nodded and we took off.

**That's it people! That's exactly what's all on my laptop! There is nothing else up until this point, so the story is going to go slowly now. Oh, and thank you Lil for pointing out that when the point of view changes, there is no double space. Sorry. I never noticed it because I never even bothered to check! Anyway, yeah, so it might be awhile before I post the next chapter…**


	24. The Return

**Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto or any of the brand names I mention in this story. I also don't own any of the music lyrics that appear.**

Chapter 24

The Return

"Lilian, wake up!" someone whispered harshly, shaking me.

I groaned something unintelligible and rolled on my side in my sleeping bag.

"C'mon! Shikamaru and Angel are back!" the person rolled me on my back.

Irritated, I lifted my arm and slapped the person across the face.

"OW!! What the hell is your problem?!"

"I'm sleeping, get the fuck away from me," I grunted.

"I hate to do this to you, Lilian, but I guess I have no choice…"

_What the hell are they talking about? _I thought tiredly. _Why can't they just leave me alone and-_

Suddenly, I felt a strange presence taking over my body. I tried fighting it off, but it was too powerful, and I ended up opening my eyes, sitting up, and crawling out of the shelter. Just as sudden as it had appeared; the presence left and I was left standing in there in the drizzling rain, blinking.

"What the fuck just happened?" I asked, holding my head, dizzy.

Ten-Ten laughed as she crawled out of the shelter, "You wouldn't get up, so Ino used her Mind Transfer Jutsu on you."

"That bitch…" I muttered. "I swear to God I'm gonna kill her."

"Well, you can do that later," Neji walked up next to us. "First, we need to get Madeline settled and make sure she's okay."

I stared at him with an expression that said it all: _What the hell are you talking about?_

The Hyuuga sighed, "While you were getting out of bed, Shikamaru and Angel returned with Maddie and another boy that was held prisoner. They're in the third shelter if you want to go see them."

"Nah, I'm going back to sleep," I said, looking up at the rain that was falling. "I'll give her some time to rest."

"Well, this is the place," Shikamaru sighed. "It may not be much, but at least it keeps the rain out."

"You made all of this by yourself?" I gawked at the three makeshift shelters as we approached them.

"Well, I had Angel help, but yeah, basically."

I smiled and shook my head in wonder as Ashitaka and I were led into one of the shelters. The diameter of the available dirt circle was probably about eight feet, giving the two of us just enough room for ourselves. Shikamaru set up an extra sleeping bag and then brought out my backpack and sleeping bag that my kidnapper had left behind. While he was doing this, Angel trotted over to the fire pit in the middle of the circle, breathed some flames over it to get a fire going, changed back to her original form, and then came over and snuggled up against me.

"Man, I'm beat," I groaned, collapsing on my sleeping bag. "I think I'm just gonna sleep for a week…and then…yeah."

There was silence and I felt a pair of eyes on me. I opened my eyes and sleepily looked up at Shikamaru, who was staring down at me.

"What?" I yawned.

"It's just that…never mind," he stood up and headed for the brush 'door.' "Call me if you need anything, alright?"

"Seriously, what's wrong? You can tell me."

Shikamaru stared at me for a long moment before sighing and sitting back down on the edge of my sleeping bag.

"I was just wondering…if I would need to call for a medical ninja squad…" he muttered, looking at the ground. "for your…injuries. But I wasn't sure if you would feel comfortable with someone…examining them…before we do that…"

I smiled a tiny smile at his thoughts of how I would feel about that certain situation.

"Well Shikamaru, I'm very proud of you for thinking that," I said, still smiling. "Most guys don't even ask us girls how we feel about anything."

"A true gentlemen," Ashitaka added from his sleeping bag.

I laughed as a light blush rose to Shikamaru's cheeks as he looked away.

"You better check Ashitaka first," I yawned again, sinking back into my pillow. "His are probably worse than mine. Here, you can use the medical stuff I packed."

I handed him my weapon pouch and sleepily watched as Shikamaru helped Ashitaka remove his shirt.

"Jesus," he breathed. "How many times were you whipped?"

"Six times," Ashitaka murmured.

_Damn, _I thought. _That's twice as much as they did to me._

I unconsciously touched my back, as if it was burning and I needed to comfort it. I caught Shikamaru's gaze and turned on my side, holding Angel tightly to my chest. The warmth of the fire, the light pitter-patter of the rain outside, and the occasional cricket chirping relaxed me, and I'm pretty sure I dozed off. The next thing I knew, something warm was licking my cheek. I was too tired and lazy to open my eyes, plus I already knew who it was anyway.

"What is it, Angel?" I murmured.

_Shikamaru's done bandaging Ashitaka, so…yeah_.

"We can take care of you tomorrow if it's too troublesome," his voice said softly. "Your friend here passed out with exhaustion before I was even finished."

"No, it's alright," I yawned, stretching. "I don't want anyone having to worry about me tomorrow. Just make it quick so you can get some sleep too, 'kay?"

He nodded and crawled over to get the med stuff while I removed my tank-top and fishnet shirt and lay back down on my sleeping bag, stomach down. I heard Shikamaru freeze and I knew he was looking at the whip marks on my back.

"How bad?" my voice was muffled against the fabric of the bag.

"It's troublesome to decide whether it's worse than Ashitaka's or not," he sighed.

I gave him a puzzled look, "What do you mean?"

"Well…it looks like a longer whip was used on you and a shorter one on Ashitaka… Here, let me show you."

Shikamaru grabbed a stick and drew two lines parallel to each other in the dirt. He then added six short marks inside the two lines.

"Pretend this is Ashitaka's back," he said. "And this is your's."

He drew another set of parallel lines and scratched in three long marks that ran down the inside.

"As you can see, your whip was clearly longer than what was used on Ashitaka."

I sighed and tried to decide which one was worse. I may not have had been whipped as many times as Ashitaka, but unlike him, the whip had slashed across my entire back. So……?

"This might sting, okay?" Shikamaru's voice sounded worried. "I need to clean the cuts before they get infected, but let me know if it hurts too much."

"Don't worry," I smirked. "I can handle tons of pain."

Shikamaru rolled his eyes but smiled at the same time. Then, suddenly, a wet cloth gently touched my skin, cooling it off. But then, the stinging came. It was a light stinging, just strong enough to make you feel uncomfortable.

"Um…" Shikamaru paused after a couple of minutes. "Well…it's just that…I can't really get all of it 'cause…"

"Oh," a dark blush plastered across my face. "_Oh_. Um…I don't really want to get them infected…so…"

"This is so troublesome."

"I know, tell me about it."

I buried my face into my pillow as Shikamaru's fingers gingerly picked at my sport's bra strap until it unhooked.

"You'll forgive me for this, right?" his voice was worried again, with an undertone of stress.

Ordinarily, I would say 'HELL NO!' and punch the guy, but I could never stay mad at Shikamaru for long.

"Yeah, don't worry…" I blushed again. "So what exactly are you going to do now?"

"I'm going to clean your…cuts with rubbing alcohol, then apply some ointment, and then wrap it up in some bandaging. But it's going to sting way more than before, okay?"

I nodded, but froze when the wet cotton ball was applied to my cut. Tears sprang to the corners of my eyes and I clutched my sleeping bag.

"Does it hurt too much?" he asked.

I took a deep breath, "No, I'm fine."

He dabbed my back again tentatively and I bit my tongue. Angel whimpered.

_Seriously, you don't have to go through this_.

"I said I'm fine," I said through my teeth.

Shikamaru sighed, muttered something about me being troublesome, and held his hand out in front of my face. I looked up at him, bewildered.

"Don't worry," he smirked. "I know you aren't strong enough to break my fingers. It'll be too troublesome to even try to."

I rolled my eyes, but immediately grabbed his hand when the cotton made contact with my skin. Shikamaru gently wrapped his fingers around mine and squeezed lightly as he finished treating my wounds with the rubbing alcohol.

"Will the ointment sting too?" I asked when he pulled his hand away from mine. Some beads of sweat had started to form on the back of my neck and on my upper lip.

"I thought you could handle _tons _of pain," Shikamaru quoted, chuckling a bit.

"Hey, if I can handle performing a summoning jutsu after suffering from a fractured shoulder blade and two cracked ribs, then I can stand a few stings from rubbing alcohol."

"Alright, whatever you say. Anyway, to answer your question, no, it shouldn't."

I sighed in relief as he started to spread the green stuff over my injuries. It felt so cool on my bare, hot skin that I wanted to cry. Then, I noticed its exquisite, unique aroma that sent my nostrils on a one way ticket to heaven.

"Coconut?" I asked. "And pineapple?"

A surprised look spread across Shikamaru's features. "We just add the extracts when we make the medicine. I didn't think you would notice though."

"I love the smell of coconut pineapple. I know it like the back of my hand 'cause I use it for all of my body products……"

I saw Shikamaru raise his eyebrows and he murmured something to himself. I decided to ignore it and closed my eyes, trying to relax.

"Maddie?" Shikamaru whispered a few minutes later. "Are you awake?"

"Hmmm?" I opened an eye. "Yeah, why? You done?"

"Uh huh…I just have to bandage you up…so…"

My sleepiness immediately evaporated as I sat up stiff as a board, my back facing him. Shikamaru pulled out a roll of gauze and started to wrap it around my back while I kept my bra in the place it was supposed to be. He stopped bandaging when he got to the top of my ribcage and secured it with a piece of masking tape. After, he helped me hook my bra back into place and put on my pajamas.

"There," he said, pretending to dust his hands off. "All done…finally."

I rubbed my back, turned to Shikamaru, and smiled.

"Shikamaru!" I threw my arms around his neck, pulling him into a hug. "You are the greatest, smartest, most sincere guy I have ever met! I don't know how thank you enough!"

I breathed in his hay-and-freshly-washed-cotton smell as he chuckled and wrapped his arms around my waist, hugging me back. "For now, you can go to sleep and rest as long as you need to. Tomorrow is supposed to be when we deal with the Toga clan, but you don't have to worry about anything. We've issued for some ninja from the Hidden Grass Village to back us up so the law could be laid down for the clan. While we're at the bridge, a team will sneak into the clan's household and retrieve your map."

"Is there anything I can do?" I frowned. "I feel like I'm not doing anything. And then there's all the trouble I've caused you guys."

"Like I said before, the only thing you need to worry about is resting, though I wish I could do the same."

I sighed and crawled into my sleeping bag. "Alright, but I'm going to repay you guys back somehow…"

Shikamaru smiled and rolled his eyes at the same time and ruffled my hair. "Don't be a drag, so don't worry about it. Now go to sleep."

"Okay, fine," I yawned and snuggled down deep into my sleeping bag. "Mmmmm……Goodnight Shikamaru."

There was a period of silence as Shikamaru paused at the 'door.' He looked over his shoulder and smiled as my eyes started to droop.

"Goodnight Maddie."

I lapsed into a deep sleep within seconds.

"Sweet dreams…"

You know what? I don't know about some people, but I hate it when sunlight wakes you up after you've been asleep for only eight hours or so. It's so retarded that I want to scream! Say you go to bed like at eleven thirty at night or whatever when you're camping. You'll most likely wake up at six in the morning because that's when the sun comes up! And then the worst part is that you can't go back to sleep because it's too bright! So you could say I was pissed off when I woke up at seven thirty in the morning.

I checked the clock on my iPod, and it read 9:00 am. Neji had gone off somewhere to train before I had even woke up and Ten-Ten was up preparing breakfast at the fire pit outside of the shelters with Ino watching. Other than Shikamaru poking at the fire with a stick, everyone else was still crashed.

"Hey Ten-Ten, what's for breakfast?" I looked over at her.

"Eggs and rice," she replied. "Or you can just have some fruit and dry cereal if you want."

I nodded sleepily and loaded some fried rice and scrambled eggs onto a plate while Ten-Ten prepared me some tea.

"Morning everyone," Chouji yawned, stretching as he came out of the shelter, followed by Hayate and Lee.

"Hey Chouji," Shikamaru smiled slightly. "Sleep well, buddy?"

"Aw, yeah, I slept great! How 'bout you, Shikamaru?"

"Alright, I guess. I had to think of what we're going to be doing today, and then I was worried if we were going to be attacked in the middle of the night…"

"I know what you mean," Hayate sighed. "I was worried about that too."

I stabbed some egg and popped it into my mouth. "So what are we doing today exactly?"

"We'll discuss that once Neji returns," Shikamaru replied.

"I'm back," we all turned to see Neji approaching our campsite. "Please continue."

The lazy ninja nodded and continued, "Alright. Now that we're all here, we can discuss today's mission. Today is supposed to be the day when we meet up with the Toga Clan at the Earth Gate to 'exchange' Hayate for Maddie."

"How is she by the way?" Chouji interrupted. "I wanted to see if she was okay last night but she looked like hell."

Shikamaru paused for a minute. "Yeah, she was beaten up all right. They…whipped her, so she wasn't feeling too good."

"WHAT?! Is she okay?!" Ten-Ten and Chouji cried simultaneously.

"Yeah, don't worry; her injuries were taken care of. Now she's just sleeping it off."

They both sighed in relief while he continued. "Obviously, we aren't going to be following that plan, seeing that we have both of them safe. Now, we could just not meet them there and have the Hidden Grass Village shinobi we hired for backup take care of the filthy clan, but that won't teach them the lesson they need to learn. I think the best way to approach this is to meet them at the gate with the shinobi behind us. If they fail to negotiate with Hayate, then we'll have the Hidden Grass ninja come out and talk some sense into them. Hopefully, the Toga and Fujiwara clan can work this troublesome feud out.

"While we're at the gate, I'm sending a small team out to the Toga's household to retrieve a map that they had taken. Neji, Lilian, and Ten-Ten, listen up. Oh, and can someone not be a drag and go get Angel?"

"I'll go get her," I sighed, setting my empty plate down.

I walked over to the shelter that Madeline was sleeping in and quietly crawled in. She was in her original form, curled into a tight ball sleeping up against my friend's side. I gingerly poked her in the ribs, making her slowly open her eyes and sleepily look in my direction. I put a finger to my lips and motioned for her to follow me outside. She looked over at Maddie and whimpered quietly.

"She'll be fine," I whispered, my voice barely audible. "Shikamaru needs to talk to us about some stuff."

Angel yawned and stretched before following me back over to the others. Ten-Ten gave her a piece of ham as Shikamaru discussed with our team of what we needed to do.

"Now, the map will most likely be in either the supply room or Harutomo's personal quarters," he continued, scratching a diagram of the house into the dirt. "If not, you may need to search the whole house. Also, they might have put it inside a scroll, so Neji; you can use your Byakugun to check the scrolls without having to open them.

"When you guys are heading over to the house, I want you to be in the diamond formation. Angel will be the spearhead with the frontal view, Lilian to the left flank with the left view, Ten-Ten to the right flank with the right view, and Neji in the back for anything that might sneak up on you guys. Once the mission has been carried out, you guys will split up and send two of you over to the Earth Gate while the other two go back to this campsite. Is that clear to everyone?"

We all nodded, but then Ino called from her spot, "What's so special about this map, anyway? Why risk our butts to retrieve it?"

Shikamaru sighed, "Because Ino, if that clan were to look at that map, then they could launch an attack on any of the hidden villages to try to take them over. And when I mean by that, I mean that that map has all of the locations of the villages."

"Well there's some serious motivation," Chouji's face had gone a little pale.

"What time should we leave, Shikamaru?" Neji asked.

"About a half hour before we set off," he replied. "Which is about 11:45, so you guys should leave at 11:15, alright?"

We all agreed and started to get ready to go. It was already 10:30, and that only gave us forty-five minutes to prepare.

"Doesn't Angel need a soldier pill to change?" Neji asked me when I was checking my weapons.

"Huh? Oh yeah, I think she does…" I mumbled, not really paying attention.

"I got some, don't worry!" Chouji called from his spot by the fire.

I shrugged and continued to fidget with my weapons and such. Five minutes before we were supposed to leave, I spotted Madeline crawl out of her shelter. Her short honey-brown hair was a rat's nest and her eyes had some bags under them.

"Morning everyone," she yawned.

"Hey Maddie!" Chouji cried, pulling her into a one-armed hug. "Ya feeling better?"

"Hey Chouji," she smiled slightly. "I'm feeling okay, thanks."

"Are you hungry, Madeline?" Ten-Ten asked her.

She made a so-so gesture with her hand, "Sort of, not really. I think I'll just have an apple and some dry cereal."

She sleepily grabbed her breakfast items and sat on a log next to the blazing fire, shivering slightly.

"Where are you guys going?" she asked when we were making last minute checks to our supplies.

"To go retrieve your map," I replied.

"Oh, okay. Be careful, and don't let them catch you."

"Yeah, sure, whatever."

I waved, Angel put her nose to the ground, and we were off.

I threw my apple core over my shoulder and heard it land in some nearby bush as I stood and stretched. Tossing the remainder of Cherrios in my mouth, I grabbed my copy of the book _Twilight_ and started reading it for the billionth time by the fire. However, I couldn't concentrate as Shikamaru and the others planned out their diversion for their meet at the Earth Gate with the Toga clan, so just I ended up doodling randomly on a scroll.

"We leave in ten minutes," Shikamaru's voice snapped me back into reality. "Hey, whatcha drawing?"

"Huh?" my pencil twitched, sending a small streak of graphite across the white surface. "Oh, um…I don't really know actually."

He cocked his head to one side. "Looks like an apple to me."

Indeed it was. A textured apple drawn in shades of gray graphite stood proudly on the scroll's paper. It took me a couple of seconds to realize that it was the same apple that was cradled in the chalky white hands on the cover of _Twilight_.

"So you like this book, huh?" Shikamaru had followed my gaze. "What makes it so troublesome to read it so constantly and not the sequel Lilian got you for your birthday?"

Chouji busted a gut when a light blush roamed across my face out of chagrin and I looked down.

"It's kind of a love story," I mumbled. "It's about a girl who falls in love with this vampire, but they can't really have a relationship because she's so delicate to him; like a snowflake…and he could easily kill her on accident…I don't really like the sequel because he…he abandons her and it's just so sad…"

God, I hated to show my sensitive side, especially out in the open like this. Out of the corner of my eye, I saw a smirk on the verge of appearing on Shikamaru's lips; as if he thought what I was saying was humorous.

"Man, maybe you should read it too, Shikamaru!" Chouji laughed, winking.

The lazy ninja glared daggers at his chubby friend while I tried to mask over my blush.

"So, what am I going to do while everyone is away?" I sighed.

"Stay in your shelter and make sure Ashitaka is safe," Shikamaru said sternly. "We should be back in a little more than half an hour, okay?"

"Whatever," I muttered, tracing circles in the dirt with my toe.

"Look," he sat down next to me. "I know you feel like you have to do something, but you don't, alright? Just let us take care of it, and you can repay us back however you want if you choose to do so."

I sighed, "Okay…"

Shikamaru sighed along with me, yawned widely, and got up to get ready to leave with everyone else. He and Chouji waved when they were ready to go and disappeared into the branches of the trees that surrounded the campsite. I groaned, poured dirt all over the fire, and retreated back into my shelter.

"The house is just ahead of these trees!" Neji called to us. "Let's scout the area and try to find a way in."

We agreed while Angel sniffed and led us to a tree where we had a view of the whole neighborhood.

"So how are we going to get over that gate without any of the guards noticing?" I asked.

"I'm thinking……" Neji replied.

"What if we disguise ourselves as some guards?" Ten-Ten asked.

"Yeah," I agreed. "We could tell the guards at the house that we're going to take over for the shift, and once they're gone, we sneak in!"

The two of us glanced at Neji, who nodded at the idea.

"But where are we going to get their uniforms?" Ten-Ten asked.

I scanned the area and spotted some guards laughing and goofing off at a corner of the gate. After I had signaled towards them with my hand, we crept forward. Angel turned back into her original bishon frise form, jumped down into some bushes, and trotted five feet in front of the soldiers. She whined and all of the men turned towards her.

"Awwww," one of them cooed. "Look at the puppy!"

"Does she belong to anyone?" the second asked.

"Doesn't look like it," the third replied. "There's no collar or any sign of ownership."

My eyes flicked to Angel's neck and her headband that she always wore was gone.

_Good thinking, Angel, _I thought.

Madeline's dog let the three men pet her and rub her belly while she playfully nipped their fingers. Finally, I assumed she got bored, because she got up and started to make her way towards the trees.

"Hey, where you goin'?" the first soldier whined, starting to follow her.

"Wait, what if it's a trap?" the second one stopped him. "Like her pack will come out or something?"

"Please," the third said sarcastically, rolling his eyes. "Like that'll ever happen. She's obviously a stray, and it looks like she got bored with us. She's cute, and she looks fit, so let's get her."

The other two nodded and followed Angel, taking a roll of duct tape as they walked. We took this as the signal and jumped from branch to branch until we were right above the guards, hidden by the leaves. Angel looked over her shoulder at the guards, as if saying _You're still here?_

"Don't worry, sweetie," the first guard cooed. "We're gonna take good care of you now."

"Yeah," the third one grinned. "We'll train you so you can be the best dog there can be."

"That way, Harutomo will have a loyal companion by his side when he launches an attack on the Hidden Grass Village!" the second guard finished.

Neji shot down to the ground so fast and so quietly, a person had to be looking in the right direction to have noticed him. In a flash, he jabbed all three men's pressure points, knocking them unconscious. Ten-Ten and I landed to the ground while Neji started to strip a guard down to his underwear.

"I can't believe we're doing this," I muttered, looking away as I removed the pants.

"Just don't think about it," Ten-Ten shuddered, concealing her face as she put the blue mask on.

"Ready?" Neji asked, already suited up.

The two of us nodded and we started to make our way back to the gate, Angel in the lead, already back in her wolf form. Once she gave us the signal that the coast was clear, we walked out in front of the gate. Neji said to the guard that we were checking in for our shift, and he let us in.

The clan's neighborhood looked almost identical to the Hyuuga's, but it was far more elaborate and highly decorated. Angel changed back into her original form once again, and she led us to the main household. We got in easily, and Neji then activated his Byakugun.

"It's going to be hard to determine which scroll it's in," he told us, slowly scanning the area. "I can look at what's inside a scroll, but it's rolled up, so I can't really see that well."

"Try the storage room first," I suggested. "That's where Madeline said she found all of her other stuff."

I watched Neji switch his gaze in a different direction and then stare off into space. Ten-Ten and I waited, and waited, and waited, and waited, and waited.

"For God's sake, have you found the damn thing yet?!" I cried half an hour later, throwing my hands into the air.

"Wait………" he muttered. "I think I found it! It's in Harutomo's room……up in a frame…?"

"What the fuck?" I raised an eyebrow. "Why would it be up in a frame?"

"It doesn't matter why, as long as we retrieve it. There's no one in that current area, so let's get moving."

"Okay, Angel, you keep guard at the door and bark if anyone is coming," Neji instructed. "Ten-Ten, if someone does come and attack us, you'll be prepared to deliver the first wave. Lilian, you're going to help me get this map out of its frame."

We set off to our designated spots and I helped Neji take the frame off the oak wall. It was extremely heavy, like it was made out of metal; and since I'm not strong at all, I assumed that Neji was doing most of the work. The two of us flipped it over, opened up the frame, and slid the map out easily. While Neji was rolling it up into a scroll, I pulled out a duplicate map that Shikamaru had given me before we left and placed it into the frame.

"Is the coast clear, Angel?" I asked.

She sniffed and nodded.

"Okay, so then let's get outta he-" Neji was cut off by a voice.

"We should be heading off then," the deep baritone voice boomed. "Let me just grab something in my quarters and we'll be on our way."

"Shit!" I whispered harshly. "It's what's-his-face! Where are we gonna hide?"

"Let's ditch this place through the window," Ten-Ten jerked her thumb behind her.

The four of us raced towards the giant window and Neji lifted it open with ease. We hurriedly clambered out and raced into the forest while Neji set the window back into place before following us.

"Thank God that's done," I sighed as we stripped off the guards' clothes we had been wearing.

"Yep," Neji nodded, smirking. "Mission accomplished. Okay, so now, Lilian and I will go and back up Shikamaru while Ten-Ten and Angel head back to the campsite. Clear?"

We girls nodded and we went our separate ways.

I sighed and rested my chin in my palm, my eyes half closed. It had been almost an hour since Shikamaru and his team had left, and I was starting to get a little worried. Ashitaka had woken up about ten minutes after I had gotten back into the shelter, and he was now just staring at the fire, his eyes too drooping.

"When are they going to be back?" he asked sleepily.

"I don't know," I yawned. "If they don't come back in another hour…then I think I'm gonna go out and make sure they're okay…For now, I'm just gonna do this."

I scribbled a spider, rat, bird, and squirrel on the scroll that was rolled open on my lap, made a hand sign, and watched as they came to life.

"What are you doing?" Ashitaka mumbled, watching the animals scurry out of the shelter.

"I'm going to have them search the area," I put my scroll and paintbrush away. "And have them report back to me of their status."

"Interesting…" he rolled on his side and presently started to snore.

I sighed and watched him sleep away.

_He's so lucky…_I thought. _He can sleep all he wants, but I have to stay up in order to keep him and myself safe…God this sucks…_

I poked the fire with a stick and became lost in daydreaming thoughts of nothingness.

"Shikamaru and his team are at the gate," Neji told me. "They're just ahead, so we should meet up with them in a couple of minutes."

I nodded and watched my feet as they rocketed off from tree branch to tree branch. The two of us didn't say anything the rest of the way until Neji just pointed to the gate's giant wooden entrance. However, the Earth Gate wasn't just an ordinary gate. The entrance was about twenty feet high and decorated with emeralds, pearls, moonstones, and tiger's eye that led to one crossing a wide and wooden bridge.

"Why call it a gate when it's a bridge?" I wondered aloud. "Why not call it the Earth Bridge instead?"

"Because there already is an Earth Bridge," Neji replied. "They have to call this the Earth Gate so people won't get mixed up."

I raised an eyebrow and left it at that as we jumped down from the trees to the ground in front of the Earth Gate. There, Shikamaru's team was waiting for us.

"Just in time," Shikamaru remarked. "It's one minute to twelve, so we can stay here until they show up. I'll stand here while the rest of you hide in the trees and bushes just in case something happens. You might sense some people over there, but don't worry about it; those guys are just the Hidden Grass Ninja that are helping us. Also, they're going to be bringing out a clone that looks like Maddie, but they don't know it's a clone.

"I'm going to try to convince Harutomo that this fight is useless and they shouldn't have dragged us into it and such. If everything goes smoothly, the fight between the two clans is over and we can head home. If not, then we'll have to have the Hidden Grass Ninja step in and take care of things since we don't know the laws around here. Alright?"

_He must have a more complicated plan than just this,_ I thought as I crawled behind a bush. _It's too simple and he didn't even say what would happen if they attacked us…_

I peered through the leaves and watched him stand there at the entrance of the Earth Gate. It seemed like forever that he stood there until he suddenly straightened up and tensed slightly. I switched my gaze to the other side of the bridge and realized that there was a figure standing there.

"Harutomo!" Shikamaru called out. "Before we do anything, I'd like to speak to you about something."

"Very well," the man replied after a pause. "Let us meet at the center of the bridge."

They both walked forward until they were standing about a foot apart and started to speak in low voices. I couldn't hear because of my crappy hearing, so I just kind of spaced out until Shikamaru's voice calling Hayate brought me back into reality. Hayate crossed the bridge unsurely, but he seemed relieved when Shikamaru said something to him and Harutomo then spoke. After a few minutes, they shook hands and the leader of the Toga clan motioned with his hand at the other side of the bridge.

Two guards led the clone that was disguised as Madeline Shikamaru had mentioned earlier to the middle of the bridge. Hayate bowed to Shikamaru and 'Madeline' before turning around, walking back to the other side of the bridge with Harutomo, and disappearing. The clone disappeared in a puff of smoke as Shikamaru strolled casually back to us, hands in his pockets.

"That's it," he said. "Mission accomplished. They've agreed to pay half for the land the Toga wants and to have control over an even amount of both their property. We'll spend the night at the Toga household before heading back to the village."

We all sighed in relief and headed back to the campsite to tell Madeline and the others the news.

"Wake up!" someone shook me somewhat hard.

I groaned, muttered something even I didn't understand, and rolled around in my sleeping bag.

"C'mon, Maddie, everyone's back!" I could tell by the voice that it was Ten-Ten.

"That's just damn swell, Ten-Ten," I growled. "Go away, I'm sleeping."

"You'll be able to sleep all you want soon," a second voice said. "We're getting ready to head over to the Toga household to spend the night there."

"WHAT?!" I got up halfway, still sleepy, but alert.

"Don't worry," the second person, Chouji, laughed. "Everything worked out, so we're being invited over. We'll get paid and so forth, so c'mon!"

I groaned again as he pulled me to my feet and dragged me outside. I was awake at the time Ten-Ten and Angel had gotten back from their side mission, but I had decided to take a nap to try to pass the time while waiting for everyone else. Now they're all here and I'm cranky as hell. And to top it all off, we're going to back to that Godforsaken hellhole where I was forced to work against my will.

They all greeted me when I came outside and I just waved tiredly. Shikamaru then proceeded to explain to me what had happened, but I didn't really pay attention. Instead, I kind of just watched the rest clean up the campsite and get ready to go.

"You know, I really don't want to go back to a place where I was whipped like a horse," I complained to Shikamaru as we headed off.

He sighed, "I know. I knew you would feel that way. When we get there, I arranged for Harutomo and his entire household to apologize just for you."

"You didn't ha-"

"I know, but then I also knew that you wouldn't want to go back there ever again without an apology."

I didn't say anything, because I knew he was right. God, he knew me too well. We all arrived at the Toga's neighborhood at about one in the afternoon, where Harutomo himself, and it looked like everyone else that lived there, bowed down and gave their apologies to me. I felt really awkward standing in front of all those people who were bowing down to me, so I told them to just get up and lied that it wasn't that big of a deal. Ashitaka also made up with his father, and they both disappeared to some training grounds while some servants showed us to our rooms.

The woman opened up the rich mahogany wood door by its elegant gold doorknob and let me step inside. I had requested a room that wouldn't be that fancy, but I don't think they had paid any attention to me. The floor was a polished and shining birchwood that ended at the bathroom's white marble tiles. Comfortable futon couches and recliners surrounding glass coffee tables were spread out throughout the interior. A brick fireplace was a couple of feet away from the elevated futon bed that had light, white, almost transparent screens hanging down from the wooden posts above. Hanging on the dark wooden walls were multiple watercolors, photographs, and acrylic paintings.

"I said to make it not that fancy," I muttered to myself as I examined the bathroom.

The purely made pink granite counters corresponding perfectly with the marble floor and hand painted walls that showed a picture of the beach. The giant naturally made bathtub could've held at least four people and was decorated with beautiful seashells. There was also a shower next to the bathtub that was naturally made out of rock, also decorated with shells. A plush futon couch was laid out in front with a coffee table that held a basket full of fresh, ripe fruit. To the right of the tub was a door that slid open, revealing an enormous closet filled to the brim with clothes and accessories.

"I bet Ino's freaking out in her room right now," I muttered, closing the closet door disgustingly.

I sat on the couch in the bathroom for a while, not really sure what to do. I munched on some green grapes absentmindedly and then read and doodled until there was a knock at the door. I sighed, got up, and opened it.

"Hey, Maddie!" Ten-Ten beamed.

"Oh, hey, Ten-Ten," I yawned. "What's up?"

"Oh nothing," she replied. "Just wanted to let you know that they're going to serve us dinner downstairs right now, if you want to come. I know how you don't like to eat at a formal place, but I doubt you want to spend the rest of the night cooped up in here."

"Sure," I shrugged, closing the door behind me. "What exactly are we having?"

"Whatever we want."

"Oh cool."

When we got down to the enormous dining room with a chandelier hanging above our heads, we all sat down on velvet cushioned chairs at a fine oak table laden with sparkling silverware and fresh garlic bread. I stared off into space as everyone else at the bread until we were asked for our appetizers. I almost handed back the waiter the menu I was given, because it was so ridiculous.

_Screw it,_ I thought, quickly scanning it.

In the end, I got a shrimp cocktail and a Caesar salad, and that was it. I got up to leave and head up back to my room, but Harutomo said I should stay if I wanted to get paid…So I waited as everyone else ate, chatting with Lilian, who was seated right next to me.

"Well, this certainly has been a wonderful dinner," Harutomo announced after about an hour I had finished. "Now onto business matters: To show you all how grateful I am for bringing our two clans together, I'm going to give each of you one hundred thousand yen."

Everyone's forks hit their silverware at the exact same time. I tried to remember who much money that was in U.S. dollars, but gave up and just stared at him like everyone else, pretending to be shocked.

"You honestly don't have to give us that much," Shikamaru finally said, finding his voice.

"Please, I want to."

Our group exchanged excited glances with each other, but Lilian and I gave each other a confused look. How much money was that anyway?

"Well, I'm off to bed," Harutomo got up from his seat. "Sleep well, and I'll see you off in the morning."

We all sat there for a moment after he left before getting up, one by one, and heading back to our rooms. Ten-Ten joined up with me and we chatted for a while by my fireplace.

"I mean, I shouldn't have to baby-sit Lee twenty-four seven while Neji goes off randomly to train!" Ten-Ten continued to rant. "Oh! By the way, guess what?"

"Huh?" I had been spacing out. "Oh, what?"  
"Promise you won't tell?"

"Promise."

"Swear?"

"Sure, whatever."

"Ok…well…I…" she paused. "I think Neji likes Lilian…and I think it's vise versa."

I stared at her, "Oh yeah, _sure_. Why would they like each other? They're always screaming at one another."

"Yeah, but I just have a feeling…"

I pondered this and suddenly had a flashback. It was at my thirteenth birthday party, and I was talking to Lilian right after Kakashi had left.

"_Um, well, er, I don't think I should tell you."_

"_What? That Kakashi kissed you on the cheek? I don't care."_

_I sighed in relief. "You don't? Okay, good. I thought you would since he's your favorite character."_

"_Nah, I changed my favorite a long time ago…" Lilian waved her hand at me._

"Well, do you like Neji?" I asked.

"What? No, he's just a really good friend of mine," she shrugged.

I could tell that Ten-Ten was lying, because I knew that she liked Neji, even if it was a little bit. But I didn't go there and distracted her with talking about battle skills.

The sound of a knock made my eyes slowly open. I had been lying on my bed, daydreaming.

"Come in," I said groggily, having my head fall back to the pillow.

The door slowly opened, and Ino shyly stepped inside my room.

"Hey, Lilian," she said in a squeaky voice.

I looked up to see her standing awkwardly in the middle of the room, fidgeting with her hands.

"Oh…er, hey, Ino," I muttered. "Um…what's up?"

"Oh nothing, just thought I could come in to talk," she replied. "Ten-Ten is in Maddie's room, so I thought I can hang out here…is that alright?"

"Er…sure…"

Ino stood there for a moment, as if waiting to say something.

I sighed, "Alright, Ino, why'd you really come into my room?"

She looked around before sitting on the edge of my bed.

"Okay, guess what?" she whispered, her eyes suddenly shining. "And promise not to tell?"

"Sure," I shrugged. "What?"

"I think Maddie and Shikamaru like each other!"

I paused and knew she was right. Madeline always said her favorite character was Shikamaru. But for her sake, I'll lie.

I raised an eyebrow, "Sure, Ino."

"You don't believe me?" she gave me a puzzled look. "But it's so…obvious!"

"I have no idea what you're talking about. Can you leave now? I'm exhausted."

Ino pursed her lips before standing up and slamming my door shut.

**Finally! I've been writing this the whole summer! I actually finished it in early September, but I got caught up with school and everything. I'm sorry. -- Anyway, I hate to say it, but next chapter will be the last chapter. I'm currently working on it and I'm pretty sure that it will be done shortly after Halloween, maybe later. Also, a quick note: I've added some stuff in this chapter that aren't in previous chapters, so I'll be updating those. Um...that's it for now, so bye for now!**


	25. Homecoming

A/N: Well, this is the last of the long chapters. The last one on my laptop is only like a page long. I finally decided to get off my lazy ass and finish this damn thing, so I did. I'll talk more about it in the final chapter. Enjoy! ~Maddie

**Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto or any of the brand names I mention in this story. I also don't own any of the music lyrics that appear.**

Chapter 25

Homecoming…

I sighed and continued to walk towards the Ichiraku Ramen Bar. As I was slurping up my ramen next to Naruto, I thought about the past couple of days. We had left the Toga clan early in the morning and set off back to the Leaf Village. All the time, however, I kept seeing Madeline peek at me.

_What the hell?_ I had thought. _Why is she…does she know that I know that Shikamaru's totally crushing on her?_

Once we got back to the village, everything went back to normal. I started training again, along with the combination of lounging around and listening to music.

I looked up from my food just in time to see Madeline run by with Angel at her heels. She had taken up the job of being the Leaf Village's Messenger, which was why she was carrying a brown bag filled with letters around her shoulder. She told me it was to get extra money and that it allowed her to go on her daily run. I asked if she ran around the whole village, but she replied with a quick no. If she were to do that, then she would surely die. She only did a corner of the village, the area where we lived around. Usually, she said, she would get in a good five or six miles while on the job every morning.

I don't know why she took the job if she has all that money that Harutomo gave us for that mission, but whatever. After I had finished my lunch, I paid the owner and headed towards the training grounds.

"What the hell?" I gasped.

I had been practicing for only about an hour or two, and I couldn't really perform my fireball jutsu. Usually, it takes about four hours before I really start to get tired. I tried out one of my lightning jutsus and had to stop almost immediately because my arm felt as if it were on fire.

_Maybe I'm just tired today, _I thought. _I'll just go home and relax or something…_

"C'mon, Angel, let's go!" I called over my shoulder, throwing my red Messenger jacket on.

I grabbed the empty brown messenger bag, threw it over my shoulder, and left the condo. Angel and I walked over to the post office, gathered up our mail for the morning, and then we ran off. I did the usual five mile loop, stopping at a house that needed its mail. However, there were occasions when I had to personally walk up to the door and the hand the person a scroll or a package. Obviously, those were top-secret letters and packages that couldn't be trusted in with being in a mailbox. During those times, I would be given tips, even though I got paid a fair amount of money at the end of each week.

Ever since I started the job, people have kept asking me why I even took it. I always gave them the same answer: I just want to make some extra money when I'm not on missions. Besides, it gives me an opportunity to carry out my daily run.

However, I never tell them that I'm saving up money to buy a place of my own to keep track on Noah and Angel. After the retrieval incident, I need to keep a better eye out for them. The only one who knows of my 'plan' is Shikamaru, and I don't think he'll tell anyone. I might tell Kakashi later when picking out the location, but that's it.

After I was finished with the last house, I started to jog back to the condo, passing the Ichiraku Ramen Bar on the way there. I waved to Lilian, who was sitting at the booth, eating ramen, and continued on my way. Once Angel and I got back, I had my cool down and drew for a while with music floating through the air. A couple of hours later, around five, I decided that I could squeeze in some training into my day. I dressed in my regular ninja clothes, walked to the training grounds, and well, started to train.

What was strange, though, was that I was getting exhausted pretty easily. I had only trained for about three hours when I couldn't even perform my drawing release jutsu. I was so tired that I collapsed to the ground and sat there for a while, trying to get my breath back.

"I guess I'm just tired from running," I said aloud. "I guess I'll just rest and give it a try some other time."

"This is ridiculous!" I cried, angrily chucking a kunai at a tree. "What the hell is going on?!"

It had almost been two weeks now, and I was no better of a ninja than I was when we came back from the Toga mission. In fact, I had gotten worse. I couldn't train longer than an hour before becoming completely wiped out and having my usual chakra drained from my body. I could no longer perform a summoning jutsu, any of my genjutsus, and I could hardly get by with my earth jutsus. Angel had also noticed that she couldn't perform any fire jutsus without really concentrating.

_Something bad is going on, _Angel whimpered.

"No shit, Sherlock," I muttered. "I…I wonder if Lilian or Noah is having the same problems as I am…? We should go ask them, come on."

"Lilian, Maddie's at the door," Neji stood in front of me, blocking my view out the window.

"Alright," I sighed, sliding off the chair I was sitting in and wearily walking towards the door.

I opened the door and stared. Madeline was standing there, gasping for air, looking like she was going to collapse any second, covered in dirt and sweat. When she looked up me with frantic eyes, I knew something was wrong.

"Can't……perform…jutsus…" she panted. "Emergency…team……meeting…now…"

I bit the inside of my lip and followed her to the training grounds. Noah and Angel were already there, Angel twitching impatiently and Noah twiddling his thumbs.

"Finally!" Noah sprang up. "Thank God you're here!"

"What's all of this about?" I asked, raising an eyebrow.

Madeline turned to me and took a deep breath, "Have…have you been training recently?"

"Of course," I nodded. "I train every other day or so. Why?"

"……Can…can you perform any jutsus? I mean easily? Like no sweat, too easy?"

I remained silent and shook my head.

"I can't even train for an hour," I whispered.

"Exactly, neither can I," she began to pace nervously. "I don't know what's going on…I can't think of an explanation."

"We were so far ahead," Noah added. "And now, it's like our chakra and abilities are fading or something."

"That's what I think is happening," Madeline murmured. "I went to the hospital earlier this morning to see if I was right…and I was. Lord Hiashi happened to be there, so I had him check my chakra levels, points, circulation, everything. He said that my…demon was a lot weaker than when he had first observed it…and it looks like it's getter weaker every day, every minute. Like Noah said, it's almost as if it's fading."

"But how is that even possible?" I objected, started to walk around too. "You can't just get a demon and then lose it! You can't just learn jutsus and chakra control and then just lose it all! I bet this has never happened to any ninja before. So, why us? Why would this happen?"

"I've thought about that question long and hard," Madeline said quietly. "And I can only come up with one possible solution."

We all turned to look at her. She had sat down on a gray boulder and was holding her right hand curled into a fist to her lip thoughtfully. She lifted her gaze from the ground and looked at us from underneath her bangs.

"We're going back," she whispered.

No one said anything. In fact, no one even moved. The three of us just stared at her like she was insane.

"What, go back to the real world?" Noah cried.

His sister nodded gravely.

"No! That's impossible! I thought we were stuck here forever!"

"So did I," I murmured. "But that's obviously not the case anymore. Why do you think we would go back there, to actual reality?"

"I don't know," Madeline muttered. "Maybe, our role here is up. Maybe we had some duty to fulfill, and we carried it out without even knowing it. We know that we're in that prophecy thing, but we didn't get far enough to be able to release our demons or learn to control them or something…Maybe we just came here so we could prepare ourselves and then return later to fulfill it…"

She had obviously taken a lot of time and energy in trying to figure this problem out. And I had to agree, her theories seemed to make sense. I sighed and sat down on the ground.

"So what do we do now?" I asked quietly, picking at a blade of grass.

Madeline stood up and turned her back on us, looking up at the sky.

"We tell no one," she replied. "Not one person is going to know about this until we can't even bring chakra to our body parts through concentration. After that day arrives, we'll probably go back home a couple of days later, so that's when we can tell everyone. Until then…"

She walked away into the trees, giving one a good angry kick on her way out of the clearing.

"No one will ever speak of this."

I stared at the sunset before me, not paying any attention to the watercolor sitting in my lap. Angel nudged me with her nose and I snapped out of my thoughtful trance. I sighed, scratched her head, and glanced at my painting. It was the one of the village I had started when I was in the hospital, and I had never finished it. I felt a need to finish it, for if I truly were going back to my world, then I wanted some proof that me being here had actually happened.

I felt rushed everyday, like I had only a certain amount of time before dieing or something. It was as if a giant hourglass was floating above my head, and slowly, every grain of sand, every second, would pass, drop to the bottom, like a bomb dropping from an enemy airship, and I would watch those seconds tick by, feeling as if I were being shot in the heart for every grain that descended.

I spent as much time as I could with everyone, hanging out with Chouji and Ten-Ten and Kakashi. I even took a trip to the Sand Village to hang out with Temari, Kankurou, and Gaara. And all the while, I took pictures with my cell phone and uploaded them to my laptop.

The one person I kept my distance from, however, was Shikamaru. I didn't want to spend a bunch of time with him and then turn around and say that I was leaving for probably forever. I couldn't do that, so I tried to avoid him as much as possible. I just hoped that Noah didn't say anything to him.

I finished off my watercolor, signed my name, and held it up in front of me. Yes, it would definitely hang up in my room, framed. I gathered all of my materials up, made my way down to the ground, and started to head back to the condo. I held my notebook and everything to my chest and stared at the ground, thinking.

"Hey, Maddie!" a voice called.

I looked up to see Naruto and Chouji waving at me. Shikamaru, Kiba, Kakashi, Sakura, and Ino were all standing behind the two, smiling. Naruto ran over to me, waving his arms in the air, as if I couldn't see him.

"Hey!" he grinned widely. "You wanna come and eat with us at Ichiraku's Ramen or the Teahouse or something?"

I looked from him to everyone and a pain of sorrow shot through my heart.

"No, it's okay," I shook my head. "I…I already ate."

"Well, that's fine; you can just hang out with us then!"

"Honestly, Naruto, I really should be heading home. I'm tired and I need to work on some things."

"Oh, well okay. Maybe next time then?"

He looked so hopeful and happy, that I had to turn my back on him so he couldn't see the tears forming in my eyes.

"Yeah, sure, next time…"

The days passed slowly by, and I could feel myself getting weaker and weaker. Every day, after coming back from work, I would go out and train. And everyday, I could only do so much before almost passing out with exhaustion. Finally, the day came when I couldn't even perform the simplest of jutsus. When that happened, I went home and locked myself in my room for the rest of the night.

The next morning, when I was on my daily route delivering, I stopped by the Hyuuga's household.

"Come and meet me at my condo when I'm finished," I told Lilian when she answered, handing her the mail.

I hurriedly carried out my job, showered, and walked around the village with my friend.

"So, what's this all about?" she asked.

I looked around to make sure no one could hear me. Leaf ninja could be blindfolded and still hear a pin drop in a sandstorm.

"It happened yesterday," I muttered. "My ability to perform jutsus. It's gone."

She nodded solemnly, "Same thing happened to me."

"I…think it's time to start telling people…about…you know…"

"What?" Lilian stared at me. "I thought we were not going to tell anyone until-"

I cut her off, "I know, but how long will that be? Tomorrow? The day after that? I'm telling you, we don't have much time left."

She remained silent for a time before sighing, "Yeah, I suppose you're right…So how are we going to break this to everyone?"

"I think we should start with Kakashi," I said after pausing. "He'll be the one who will take this thing seriously without freaking out."

Lilian nodded and we were about to go off to find him when we heard a voice behind us.

"And what will I take seriously without freaking out?" it asked.

We both turned to see our sensei leaning up against a shop's wall, reading his perverted book. Lilian and I exchanged glances. How long had he been listening?

"To answer your question, I've been listening almost the whole time," he said, flipping a page.

"So you know then?" Lilian asked.

He looked up, "From what I know from what you two have been talking about for the past week, you're losing your chakra and going off to someplace against your will. Am I right?"

"You were _eavesdropping_ on us?" I demanded.

Kakashi closed his book, "Everyone started to get worried why you two were looking depressed and being distant lately, so I was just investigating. Apparently, this was not what any of us had expected at all."

"It certainly is unexpected," I murmured. "But at the same time, not."

They both turned to look at me.

"What do you mean?" my friend asked.

"I mean, come on, did you honestly think that we were going to stay here forever and never go back to our own world?"

"No," she muttered.

"Exactly. Kakashi, what we're really talking about is going back to our own world. The world where ninjas, jutsus, or chakra don't exist. Basically, reality. But we really don't want to go back, with all the war and economic depression and school and everything else that makes our world a piece of crap. So, we need your help. How are we going to tell everyone?"

Kakashi stared at us before sighing and rubbing his concealed chin thoughtfully.

"Everyone that you know knows that you're from a different world, right?" he asked.

We both nodded and he sighed again, "Well, you're just going to have to tell them straight off. You should probably go find everyone right now so they'll be prepared. I'll notify Lady Hokage and the other senseis, you two just take care of your friends."

I groaned, "C'mon, let's go…"

I tried thinking of how to tell everyone that I was leaving for probably forever while Madeline and I strolled the streets of Konoha, looking for them. I've been hanging out with Kiba and Akamaru pretty often lately, so they'll probably be shocked. Chouji and Ten-Ten will be sad too, especially Hanabi and Hinata. Hanabi probably won't understand, but she'll probably beg me not to go to wherever she thinks I'm going. And then, there's Neji. Well, his reaction will be a surprise, that's for sure.

We first met up with Rock Lee, who was in the middle of running five hundred laps around the village. After we finally managed to get the news out, he burst into exaggerated tears and said how much he was going to miss us so much before running off to tell Gai sensei. Madeline and I then split up to find the people we usually hang out with to make the job less awkward and easier.

I had just finished telling Kiba and Akamaru and started to walk off when a kunai whizzed past me. I flinched and froze, looking around. Suddenly, Neji emerged from some nearby trees, arms crossed over his chest. It was dusk and we were in the forest surrounding the training grounds, so his face was hit with a slanted ray of both moonlight and the setting sun.

"You weren't on guard," he said.

"Oh really?" I replied sourly, chucking the kunai back at him, missing by a long shot.

"I see that you are extra bitchy today. Tell me, when can I expect the smartass comments?"

"Beat it, Neji," I growled. "I don't have time to fight with you right now…or rather, anymore."

He raised one eyebrow, cool and slow, "And why is that?"

I threw my hands in the air, "I'll tell you later, alright?"

"No," Neji took a step forward towards me. "You're going to tell me now."

I started backing up as he approached me, his arms still crossed over his chest. Finally, my back hit the bark of a tree and I was forced to stare into his eyes.

"Okay, I'll tell you," I mumbled before taking a deep breath. "…I'm……kinda…er…going away…and…something…bleh……yeah…"

Neji looked at me funny, "I didn't quite catch that. Care to speak up a little?"

I sighed angrily and glared at him, "God…why is this so…Ugh, whatever. I'm going back to my world for who knows how long, okay? Possibly, I won't be coming back. Madeline and her brother and their dog too. That's why I haven't been training lately, 'cause I can't do anything because that's how I am in my world. There, I don't have any ninja skills or-"

"Wait a second," Neji interrupted me. "You're going back to your world?"

I gave him a queer look but nodded.

He sighed and muttered to himself, "So Lord Hiashi was right then…"

"What do you mean Lord Hiashi was right?"

Neji started to pace, "Lord Hiashi told me a couple of days ago that Maddie's chakra was getting weaker and weaker. He said he didn't know why, it just was. I asked if the same thing was happening to you, and he said probably. So I thought about it. Why would you guys just lose your chakra and demons when you've come so far? I finally came up with the solution that maybe you were…leaving, as in going back to your world. I remember you saying that you couldn't do anything in your dimension, so I watched you, Maddie, and her brother train and get worse everyday…which just proved that I was right.

"Lilian," he turned and stood in front of me. "Tell me, how long were you aware of this? And why didn't you tell someone about it?"

"Because I knew that no one would be able to help me," I whispered.

Neji suddenly grabbed my wrist, "Then why tell us when you'll disappear in only a couple of days? Couldn't you have given us a week's notice? A month?"

"I didn't want anyone to get stressed out," I muttered. "That's all."

He stared at me for a long moment before sighing and pulling me into a hug.

"I don't know how I'm able to deal with someone like you," he murmured. "C'mon, we better go tell the rest of the family the news."

I felt my heart start to break out into sprints as I was allowed into the Nara's ranch. I had met up with Noah on the way, and he promised that he hadn't told Shikamaru yet about us leaving. He said that he would leave that to me, which left me relieved, stressed, and nervous all at the same time.

_Get it together_, I told myself as I made my way through the grassy fields with Angel. _Just tell him and get it over with. That's all you have to do…_

I strolled through the fields, taking my time, not wanting to carry on my mission. I stopped by the barn and helped Mr. Nara feed the chickens, pigs, cows, and other animals. I also pet some of the sheep and horses in the fields. Finally, my stalling came to an abrupt halt when I spotted Shikamaru lying down in the grass, gazing at the pink and bronze clouds.

He looked up when he heard me approach and smiled, "Oh, hey."

"Hi," I muttered, trying to return the smile. "What's up?"

"Nuthin'. Just the same old troublesome stuff. How about you? Is everything alright with work and Angel?"

"Yep. Everything's just peachy."

There was an awkward silence between us as Shikamaru studied my face, frowning.

"Something's telling me that everything isn't just peachy," he finally said.

I sighed, sat down, and buried my face in my hands, "You're right…Everything is far as it can possibly be from being just peachy…Look, there's something I need to tell you."

He sat up and looked at me, recognizing my serious tone.

I could tell he was waiting for me to speak, to tell him what I needed to tell him, but I couldn't. I just sat there, fidgeting with my hands and picking at the grass.

"Well…er…" I started, averting his gaze. "I'm……going…away……and…I……uh…don't know…when I'm…going……to be……back……and…er…yeah…"

Shikamaru raised an eyebrow, "A little less troublesome please."

I sighed, "This is so…ugh…well…it's just that…ah, the hell with it…I'm going back to my own world and I don't know if I'm coming back here or not. My chakra is fading really fast, so I figure I only have a couple of days left…and I have no idea why this is happening, but it's just so unfair."

He sat there, studying my face for a long time, and I tried to avoid his eyes as much as possible. Finally, I managed to see him look away by using my peripheral vision.

"Why are you leaving?" he asked after a pause.

"I don't know," I shrugged helplessly, still not looking at him. "I think it's because maybe my time here is up…You know that prophecy thing, right? Well…I think I came here to learn about that and learn how to use my chakra. That's it."  
"But you haven't fulfilled the prophecy yet."

"Which gets me thinking that I'll come back."

Shikamaru didn't answer and I could tell he was thinking this over long and hard. I waited for him to respond, but all he did was sigh and glance up at the sky.

"How long?" he finally asked.

"What?" I turned my head towards him.

He switched his gaze from the sky to me, "How long are you going to be gone? How long until you come back?"

"I don't know…" I muttered, lowering my eyes.

"Maddie, I want you to look at me for a second."

I raised my eyes until I was staring right above his eyebrows.

"Why didn't you tell me or anyone else about this? Does Lilian or Noah know?"

"Yes," I whispered, feeling my throat start to close up.

"Then why keep this from everyone?"

I took a shaky breath and looked away, "Because I didn't want to go through the formal goodbyes or have a farewell party or something like that. I knew someone would want to do something of the sort, and I can't go through that kind of thing…"

"Why?"

I didn't answer and started to pick at the grass again.

"Madeline…"

My lip twitched as I tried to keep the words that were itching to claw their way out inside of me. I felt Shikamaru's burning gaze on me so I finally shot up off the ground and started to pace fiercely. I took several deep breaths before speaking.

"It's because I'm afraid…" my voice was still shaking despite my attempts to keep it under control.

Shikamaru stood up, "What are you afraid of?"  
I silently gulped more air and increased my pacing.

"Saying…goodbye…" I managed to get out. "And…"

I couldn't admit the last part. I refused to. I had always kept this from my friends, parents, even Noah. It was a secret I had sworn to keep from everyone. I balled my hands into fists and ground my teeth. I walked around in my little rut faster and faster.

"Madeline, stop," Shikamaru grabbed me by the shoulders.

I tried pushing past him, but he was too strong.

"And what?" he asked quietly.

I focused on my feet as I spoke, "Losing control…"

"Of your feelings?"

I nodded, "I…I don't like to cry…It…makes me feel like I can't do anything to control myself…It makes me feel weak…and I'm afraid that other people will think that I'm weak and a crybaby…"

Shikamaru sighed and pulled me into a hug, "What am I going to do with you? Maybe it is good that you'll be going back to your world for a while. That way, I won't have to worry about you."

I looked up at him, "So you're not mad then?"

His eyebrows furrowed, "About what?"

"Me not telling you about us going back until now."

Shikamaru rolled his eyes, "I find it typical of you not to tell anyone as important as this is and hide your feelings."

"Ok good," I smiled a little. "So now what?"

He sighed, "Well, I suppose we should get you ready for you're trip back home."

I raised an eyebrow, "It'll probably just be a flash or something and I'll be right back."

"Yeah, but we need to get everyone informed, tell your boss, and gather all of your things to make sure you don't leave anything behind."

"That sounds like a lot of work and emotional distress," I frowned.

"I know, but we'll survive," he smirked.

"Alright, let's get movin' then."

I was surprised about Shikamaru's reaction to me and the others leaving for God knows how long. I expected him to ignore me for the rest of my time there or something or call me troublesome for not telling him sooner. Instead, he was very calm about the situation and helped me get everything done that needed to be taken care of.

Chouji would literally follow me around everyday, trying to spend quality time with me I guess. I enjoyed his company, but his presence would get a little awkward sometimes. Ten-Ten made sure that my staying at her condo was the best it had ever been since I arrived. Temari, Anko, and I hung out a lot while Noah spent a lot of time with Kankurou, Gaara, and a girl his age named Matsuri. She had short brown hair, about my length, and black eyes. She wore an oversized turquoise shirt and purple shorts with a yellow bandana tied around her neck. She was one of Gaara's students from the Sand Village, and she and Noah got along quite well. Noah confessed to me later that he thought that Matsuri was kind of cute and he was going to miss her when we left.

I kept my job of being one of the Leaf Village's Messengers until the day came when I couldn't even feel the presence of my chakra. That morning, when I should have been picking up the mail to deliver, I resigned and returned the bag. I was allowed to keep the jacket, though, which was nice I suppose.

Lilian, Noah, and I had agreed that the morning we woke up and couldn't feel our chakra, let alone try to move it around, that that would be our last day at Konoha. After I left the post office, I ran a little morning run, since it was only seven in the morning. I then went to the Teahouse for lunch, for Naruto had decided to host a little party there on account of our departure. I didn't eat much, because I knew that this was the last time I would spend time with everyone together. I think Shikamaru, Noah, and Lilian noticed this, but they didn't say anything.

Once all of that was out of the way, I went all around the village, saying my goodbyes to the people I knew I wouldn't see later in the day, such as the Hyuuga clan, Tsunade, and Shikamaru's parents.

Even Sakura and Ino came up to me to say their farewells, and they even admitted that it won't be as interesting without me around, being a tomboy and all. Akamaru had a hard time dealing with the idea that Angel was going, and he whined and yipped when Kiba and I parted ways.

Finally, eight pm rolled around: sunset. I was standing on the hill that overlooked the entire village, watching the sun slowly drop behind the mountains and trees and buildings. Everything was cast in an orange glow, pink, bronze, and purple clouds streaking across the peach and magenta sky, the sun a blood-red half circle. I took out my cell phone and snapped a photo of the majestic scene, definitely deciding that I would frame the picture.

Sighing, I sat on the long, flowing grass, feeling its cool texture graze my palms, and pulled out the _New Moon _copy that Lilian had given me for my birthday. Angel sniffed around for butterflies, birds, and grasshoppers, but didn't have any luck and ended up lying down next to me. She whined and pawed at my hand.

_I can't believe this is our last time here…I can't believe it's over…_

"I know," I murmured, scratching her behind the ears, flipping a page. "It seems like only yesterday we woke up in that hospital and didn't know where the hell we were."

"I can only imagine how you reacted when you woke up," a voice said behind me.

I turned and saw Shikamaru standing there, arms crossed over his chest, an amused smile on his face.

"Really?" I asked sarcastically. "And what did I do according to you?"

He sat down next to me, "I suspect you were woken up by Gai sensei, being as annoying as he usually is. You probably didn't freak out, but lied instead to keep your cool. However, you probably became nervous when Angel and Noah weren't around."

I stared at him and shook my head, "You're too smart, Shikamaru. Maybe it is good I'm going back. That way, I won't feel so dumb when talking to other people."

He laughed but then stopped, "…So when do you suspect you'll leave? Tonight?"

"Midnight most likely," I nodded.

Shikamaru sighed and looked at the book in my hands, "I thought you didn't want to read that. I thought you said it was too sad."

"It is," I frowned. "It's just that…the situation kind of reminds me of what happens in the book."

He draped an arm over my shoulders and pulled me to his chest, "It won't be that bad, will it?"

I rested my head on his shoulder, "I guess not, but I'm going to miss being here."

An early evening breeze ruffled my hair and made goose bumps jump to my skin. I shivered and Shikamaru noticed this. He pulled away for a second and removed his Chuunin vest before taking off his Nara jacket and handing it to me.

"Keep it," he told me as I put it on.

"What?" I looked at him. "You want me to keep…?"

He smiled, "I have a feeling I won't be needing it any longer. Plus, you'll have it to remind yourself of being here."

I frowned a little and searched my pockets until I found what I was looking for.

"Here," I held out my iPod nano: device, earphones, charger, and all. "You take this."

"Your…?" he stared at my hand. "But you use this like every second of your life."

"It's alright," I dropped the stuff into his hand. "It'll be healthy for me to learn how to live without listening to it all day every day. I could always get a new one anyway."

Shikamaru sighed, took the Apple products out of my hand, and placed them in his pocket. He then wrapped his arm around my waist and we watched the sky explode into millions of shades of pinks, purples, blues, and oranges as the crimson sun cast off its final farewell. Just before the red giant slide behind the indigo mountains, I swore I saw a flash of green streak across the top. It took me a minute to realize that I had just witnessed a Green Flash, a natural wonder I had been hoping to see for years.

For a while, neither of us said anything, but we were probably trying to accomplish the same goal: stall as long as possible and try to drag on the evening. And we both knew well enough that that wasn't going to happen, for my departure would be completely unpredictable and I would need to prepare for it.

At last, ten minutes after the sun had set, Shikamaru sighed and looked at me. I gave him a sad look and he helped me up. We stood there, facing each other, not saying anything. A lump was forming in my throat that I tried to swallow while trying to keep my eyes from watering. I finally lowered my gaze to the navy grass and caught sight of Angel sitting at my feet, looking at me with sad, brown eyes.

Suddenly, I felt Shikamaru touch my shoulder gently with his hand; it was the same way he had touched my arm back at the Toga's dungeon. It was gentle, sensitive, and comforting all at the same time. I looked up at him to see that his eyes were shining, the first sign of tears. When our gazes met, he wrapped his arms around me and hugged me gently. I did the same and buried my face into his collarbone, fully aware of some tears that were trickling down my cheek.

I focused on Shikamaru's arms and analyzed them, how strong, but gentle and warm they were; how they were like a comforting blanket enveloping me in a cocoon. I then breathed in his amazing scent of hay and freshly washed cotton and tried to store it away in my vault of memories. I tried to remember everything about him, from his features to his touch. The thing was, I wanted the moment to last forever. I didn't want to have to try to remember what he looked like or how he sounded when I was gone.

At that thought, a few stray tears streaked down my face. Shikamaru, whom had been resting his head on top of mine, lifted his head and stared down at me. He wiped the tears away with his thumb, then hugged me again.

"It's going to be okay," he murmured.

"I'm going to miss you," was all I could manage to whisper.

"I know. I'm going to miss you too."

We stood there for a few more minutes, still embracing each other. Finally, Shikamaru pulled away and picked up Angel. He stroked her white fur, scratched her behind the ears, let her lick him, and finally hugged her too. When he was finished, he turned and handed her to me.

"Come on," he said, taking my arm lightly. "Let's get you home."

My heart broke in two when I witnessed Shikamaru's and Madeline's little moment from the perch of a tree about a football field away. Sighing, I climbed down and started walking aimlessly in the moonlit forest, not really thinking. It was as if I had walked into a thick white fog and didn't know where I was going or why I had started walking in the first place. And suddenly, I came out of the fog and realized I was back at my secret pond, the same pond I had met up with Neji that one night.

I approached the silver water quietly, lay down in the cool, long grass, and stared into the pond. Somehow intrigued, I dipped my index finger into the water and swirled it around. Jet black tadpoles darted away, but some of the more daring stayed behind and bravely danced around my finger, tickling it.

Then, as if by magic, a reflection of a certain person appeared in the water. He stared at me with his lavender eyes and an expressionless face.

"What are you doing here?" I murmured, not even lifting my eyes from the tadpoles.

"Well, what are you doing here all by yourself?" Neji counterattacked with another question.

"……I don't know…" I muttered after pausing.

"Watching Maddie say her final goodbyes?"

I remained silent and shifted uncomfortably in the grass that now seemed unbearably scratchy.

"She's making it too difficult," he continued, lying down next to me. "For herself and Shikamaru."

"Who said it would ever be easy?" I looked at him from the corner of my eyes.

"I'm not saying that," he started to play with my hair; lightly pulling some strands apart and letting them fall back into place.

I sighed and raised my head to look up at the sky. I stared blankly before catching sight of the moon. It was beautiful, a perfect white circle radiating silver light, basking in the company of billions and billions of twinkling stars. Neji followed my gaze and as we both looked on, there was pure silence, minus an occasional cheery cricket or belching frog.

"It's so pretty," I murmured.

"Yeah, but not nearly as pretty as you," Neji commented casually.

I smiled, embarrassed, and rested my head against his shoulder. He started to stroke my hair again, and I slowly started to get sleepy.

"Neji," I yawned.

"Hm?" he looked down on me.

"I don't think I'm going to be able to pack the rest of my things…I'm too tired…"

"Don't worry," he smirked. "When you fall asleep, I'll carry you back and do whatever needs to be taken care of for you."

"Thank you…" I said quietly, closing my eyes.

As I slowly slipped away from the state of consciousness, I vaguely felt Neji wrap his arms around me and pull me close to him.

It took Shikamaru and me about ten minutes to get from the hill to Ten-Ten's condo. During that time, Shikamaru had slowly let go of my arm and we had walked side by side like two normal people. When I reached the door, I turned around to say a final farewell, but found that he had disappeared. Angel whimpered and looked up at me with sad and confused brown eyes. My heart sank lower than it had before as I dragged my heels into the condo I had referred to as my home.

I found Ten-Ten sitting at the table, twirling a cup of tea with a stick, a depressed expression across her face. She looked up when I entered and waved. I waved back, took a quick shower, and started to pack everything back into my school backpack. I filled a plastic bag with all of my birthday gifts and managed to cram it inside. When I was finished, I walked back out into the kitchen and said my goodbye to Ten-Ten.

"I can't believe your leaving…" she said as we hugged each other.

"I know…" I frowned. "I'm going to miss everyone soooo much."

"You need to come back. I'll always keep the room open for you and Angel."

"Dude, you're the best. Thanks so freaking much for having us stay here. You don't know how much that means to me."

Ten-Ten smiled, hugged Angel, waved to me, and let me return to my room. I didn't need to turn on the light, for the moonlight lit everything bright enough. Too lazy to change into my pajamas, I was about to climb into the bed, when a cool breeze curled around my body, sending shivers down my spine. I turned and found the window halfway open. Puzzled, I went over and closed.

As I was picking up my backpack, something on my dresser caught my eye. When I got close enough, my heart shred itself to pieces. It was my iPod. I gingerly picked it up, placed it into my backpack, and climbed into my bed. Angel curled up against my side under the sheets and I put an arm around her tiny white body. I closed my eyes and just as I was about to slip away into dreamland, I felt a pair of lips ever so lightly brush up against my cheek. I opened my eyes and found Shikamaru smiling down on me. I smiled back and fell asleep.

I didn't know what time it was when I sleepily opened my eyes. All I saw was that I was in my bedroom at the Hyuuga household and that Neji was zipping up my backpack. When he started to turn in my direction, I hurriedly closed my eyes and pretended to still be asleep. I felt him gently take my arm and slip it through one of the straps of the backpack. It then became completely soundless, but I could still sense that he was standing right next to me. Then, suddenly, his lips softly touched my forehead and I opened my eyes again.

"Goodnight, Lilian…" he whispered.

I smiled and closed my eyes.

"Night…"


	26. An Unanswerable Question

A/N: Oh. My. God. I cannot believe it. The final chapter of my story...I can't believe I finished it! I took two freaking years to finish! I'm soooo proud and happy!!! And yet, at the same time, I sad too. I actually felt really sad writing the last few chapters. I've just been working on it for so long, that I don't want to finish it...Heh, that's kind of why I procrastinated on finishing it for five months. (Gets attacked by viewers.) Anyway, I've really enjoyed writing this story, and I hope all of you viewers have too. I'm thinking about doing a sequel, you know, during Shippuuden, but I also want to actually draw the story and make it into a Fan Manga. I don't know what I should do. I have a poll up, so please stop by my user profile and vote. Um...even though I'm going to label this as "Complete," I'm still going to make some spelling changes and what not...I guess that's it. And Lilian, DO NOT start bugging me about a sequel, I just finished for God's sake! And don't mention this to Sam (your oh so perverted boyfriend), as I do not want to made fun of, given weird looks, or thought of the girl who is a hopeless romantic that writes Naruto fanfiction at school. Thanks again for taking the time to read! Rock on. ~Maddie

**Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto or any of the brand names I mention in this story. I also don't own any of the music lyrics that appear.**

Chapter 26

An Unanswerable Question

"Madeline, wake up!" someone shook me.

I groaned and tried to slap the person's hand away.

"We're going to get rained on if we don't get back home!"

I recognized the voice and sleepily looked at the person. It was Noah, holding his soccer ball and carrying a backpack.

"Where are we?" I rubbed my head. "Are we back?"

"Yeah…we're back home…or should I say, the park."

"What?" I looked around me. "Are you serious?! We're back at the freaking park?!"

"Yeah. Looks like time didn't go by at all here."

I glanced up at the sky and found that he was right. The clouds were still dark and gray and looking like they were going to release a downpour of ice cold rain any second. Beside me, Angel sat next to my backpack, her tail wagging slightly back and forth.

"Let's get out of here and we'll figure out everything else later," I got up from the bench and power-walked back home with Angel and Noah at my heels.

"Where did you two go?" was the first thing my mom said to me when I walked in through the front door. "You've been gone for an hour."

_It is soooo good to be home_, I thought sarcastically.

"We went to the park," Noah jumped into the conversation. "Just to hang out."

"I wish you could've told me first."

"Well sorry, we forgot."

"I suppose it's alright," she sighed and turned to me. "Madeline, I need to talk to you. Noah, do you mind?"

My brother shrugged and went upstairs.

"What's goin' on?" I raised an eyebrow at her.

"Well, I know that you wanted to sleep over at Lilian's house tomorrow night, and, you can after all. Noah's game tournament got cancelled due to the recent rain. So tomorrow, you'll have you're track meet, you'll go to Chinese school, go to your volleyball game, and then head over to Lilian's, ok?"

"Sweet!" I smiled. "Thanks, Mom, you're the best."

"Oh, you're welcome honey," she hugged me. "I'm sorry about earlier today, by the way."

"Yeah, me too."

"You better get a goodnight's sleep tonight. You have a big day tomorrow."

"Yeah, whatever."

"Alright, see you tomorrow, Mom!" I waved to my mom's car.

Lilian closed the door behind me and we climbed her stairs, down a small hallway, and into the computer room. We set up our sleeping bags over some tatami mats and then watched South Park, played Guitar Hero 3, and surfed the Web until twelve in the morning.

"What do you want to do now?" she whispered.

"Um…" I thought about it. "Wait, I got something that we can look at."

I rummaged through my backpack until I found what I was looking for: my digital camera. I found a USB Port Cable, plugged it into both the computer and camera, and climbed into her computer chair. I then opened up the files and pictures from the Naruto World appeared on the screen.

"You had a camera with you?" Lilian looked over my shoulder.

"Yeah, I took a buttload of pictures while we were there," I clicked from one picture to another. "Heh, look at Naruto. What an idiot."

We scrolled through all the pictures until 12:45 am. By then, we were exhausted, so we hurriedly uploaded all of the pictures to Lilian's computer so she could save them. I was about to close the window when I eyed the last picture that had been uploaded. I clicked on it and sighed. It was a picture of the Noah, Lilian, and me with all of our best friends, standing in front of the Teahouse.

"God, I wish we didn't have to leave," I murmured.

"I know, it sucks," Lilian sighed.

I took a piece of photo paper and printed out the picture on it. I then picked up the shiny piece of filmy paper and stared at it.

"Don't worry, we'll be back," I smiled. "I promise."


End file.
